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BIBLIOTICS 

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FRAZER 


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BIBLIOTIC 


OR    THE 


STUDY  OF  DOCUMENTS 


DETERMINATION    OF   THE   INDIVIDUAL 
CHARACTER    OF    HANDWRITING 

AND 

DETECTION    OF    FRAUD    AND    FORGERY 


NEW     METHODS     OF     RESEARCH 


BY 

PERSIFOR  FRAZER 

DOCTEUR    ES-SCIENCES    NATURELLES    OFFICIER    DE    l'iNSTRUCTION   PUBLIQVE  ( FRANCE) 
CORRESPONDENT   DER    K   K    REICHSANSTALT   ZU  WIEN     LIFE  MEMBER    AMERICAN 
PHILOSOPHICAL   SOCIETY     FRANKLIN    INSTITUTE     ACADEMY   OF   NATU- 
RAL  SCIENCES    PENNSY'LVANIA   HISTORICAL   SOCIETY'    ETC 
OF    PHILADELPHIA 


THIRD    EDITION 

GREATLY   ENLARGED    RK-ARRANGED    AND    IN   PART    RE-\VRITTKN 


ILLUSTRATED 


PHILADELPHIA 

J.   B.   LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY 
190  I 


T 


\  <^'  o 


Copyright,  1901, 

BY 

Persifor  Frazek. 


3-34  ni 

PRINTED    UY   J.    B.    LIPPINCOT  T    COMPANY  ,    PHILADELPHIA.    U.  S.A. 


I 


TO 

Dr.  EDWARD    PEPPER 

THIS    "WORK    IS    AFFECTIONATELY    DEDICATED 
BY 

THE    AUTHOR 


From  Preface  to  First  Edition. 


The  first  attempt  to  separate  a  branch  of  study  from 
other  cognate  branches  ;  to  define  it  and  to  establish  for 
it  an  individual  existence,  is  not  always  successful.  Any 
one  man  is  likely  to  be  too  much  influenced  by  his  own 
point  of  view,  and  thereby  to  include  too  much  or  too 
little. 

But  any  earnest  effort  will  be  attended  with  the  result 
of  directing  other  minds  to  the  subject,  so  that  if  the  ob- 
ject be  worthy,  its  evolution  will  be  aided,  and  if  not  it 
will  be  dropped.  I  have  this  conviction  to  fortify  me  for 
producing  another  book,  and  hope  this  subject  will  be 
given  its  final  shape  by  abler  hands  if,  as  I  believe,  it  has 
a  reason  for  existing. 

I  have  suggested  Bibliotics  as  its  name,  because  ^ci3?Jou 
(book,  sheet,  scroll,  libel  at  law,  etc.)  is  broad  enough  to 
apply  to  any  object  which  it  may  be  desired  to  inves- 
tigate, such  as  parchment,  wax  tablets,  papyrus,  print- 
ing-paper, stone,  or,  in  fine,  any  substance  capable  of 
receiving  and  retaining  characters.  It  will  include  hiero- 
glyphics, writing,  printing,  or  designs  of  any  kind  in- 
tended to  impart  specific  information  by  symbols,  in 
contradistinction  to  general  impressions  conveyed  by  art 
designs.    It  will  include  also  the  materials  used  to  make 


vi  FBOM   PEEFACE  TO   FIRST  EDITION. 

tracings,  such  as  paint,  inks,  and  otlier  coloring  matters. 
In  a  word,  Bibliotics  would  include  the  study  of  the 
materials  used  in  making  designs  for  the  transmission 
of  intelligence,  as  Avell  as  the  individual  character  ex- 
hibited in  the  designs  themselves  ;  and  though  it  is  dis- 
tinct from  art  conceptions,  from  literary  or  historical 
criticism,  and  from  chemical  and  physical  investigations, 
yet  it  accepts  and  needs  the  aid  of  all  of  these  studies 
in  obtaining  its  results. 

It  will  follow  that  Bibliotics  as  such  is  not  exclusively 
concerned  either  with  the  establishing  of  character  or 
the  discovery  of  fraud,  but  includes  both  subjects. 

The  first  of  these  I  venture  to  call  Grammapheny,  from 
FpapLpia,  a  writing,  and  (faivcj^  I  demonstrate.  It  is  the 
elucidation  of  the  individual  character  of  handwriting ; 
that  by  which  it  distinguishes  itself  from  every  other 
handwriting. 

For  the  art  of  detecting  forgery  or  fraud  in  documents, 
seals,  writing  materials,  or  in  the  characters  themselves, 
I  have  suggested  the  word  Plassopheny,  from  FDAoaco,  I 
forge,  and  <faivco.  This  study  is  directed  to  any  part  of 
a  written  or  printed  or  sculptured  record,  and  makes  use 
of  all  resources  to  test  its  genuineness,  but  by  its  very 
nature  it  cannot  be  expected  to  demonstrate  genuine- 
ness except  by  exclusion  in  its  failure  to  demonstrate 
fraud.  .  .  . 

Philadelphia,  June,  1894. 


Translation  of  Extract  from  Note   of   M.  Louis  Vos- 

sioN,  THE   Translator    into    French    of   the   Second 

Edition. 

..."  Whatever  may  be  the  profound  and  sometmies 
radically  irreconcilable  divergences  of  the  experts  called 
to  testify  before  the  courts,  the  fact  exists  none  the  less 
that  these  same  courts  could  not  to  any  extent  do  with- 
out them. 

..."  One  of  these  two  propositions  is  true.  Either 
the  testimony  of  witnesses  has  real  and  absolute  value, 
and  the  establishment  of  truth  will  be  facilitated  by  it, 
or  the  errors  they  [certain  handwriting  experts]  would 
commit  in  their  public  demonstration,  through  ignorance, 
charlatanism,  or  even  voluntarily,  would  be  apparent  at 
the  first  glance. 

"Dr.  Frazer's  book  defines  .  .  .  by  .  .  .  clear  and 
precise  methods  the  character  in  which  the  true  expert 
should  appear  before  the  court;  it  is  destined  to  aid 
in  the  attainment  of  the  highest  aim  which  judges  and 
juries  can  have  in  view, — the  discovery  of  the  abso- 
lute, indisputable  truth.  .  .  . 

"Paris,  June,  1899." 


PREFACE  TO   THE   THIRD   EDITION. 


The  author  has  completely  rearranged,  and  very 
largely  rewritten,  the  original  book  of  which  this  is  the 
third  edition.     The  subject  has  been  divided  into  : 

Part  I.  -  Physical  considerations^  including  the  general 
physical  examination  and  the  physical  tests  to  obtain 
light  on  certain  special  points. 

Part  II.  Grammapheny ,  or  the  study  of  the  individ- 
ual characteristics  of  the  writing. 

Part  III.  Plassopheny,  or  the  means  to  be  employed 
for  the  detection  of  forgeries. 

Part  IV.  Chemical  considerations,  including  a  state- 
ment of  the  constitution  of  the  common  inks,  and  chemi- 
cal tests  applicable  to  documents  by  means-  of  which  the 
nature  of  an  ink  may  be  ascertained. 

He  has  endeavored  to  collect  together  the  subjects 
which  were  out  of  place  in  the  edition  of  1894,  and  to 
include  them  in  a  rational  scheme  of  classification.  He- 
has  also  tried  to  exclude  from  the  book,  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, all  subjects  not  connected  with  the  attainment  of 
conclusions  in  the  study  of  documents,  and  for  this  rea- 
son has  omitted  the  chapter  on  the  laws  relating  to  the 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION.  ix 

testimony  of  experts  in  handwriting,  which,  at  his  re- 
quest, Mt.  J.  Douglass  Brown,  Jr.,  kindly  contributed  to 
in  the  first  edition,  as  well  as  all  allusions  to  judges,  juries, 
witnesses,  or  trials,  so  far  as  this  seemed  judicious  ;  for 
the  book  is  intended  as  a  manual  for  the  study  of  the 
means  of  applying  scientific  principles  to  the  investiga- 
tion of  practical  problems  concerning  documents,  and 
not  for  mastering  the  intricacies  connected  with  getting 
conclusions  in  legal  form  before  the  courts.  For  a  sim- 
ilar reason  he  has  selected  for  illustration  as  little  as 
possible  the  exhibits  in  causes  eelebres,  but  has  drawn 
on  past  history  for  individuals  and  incidents  (witness 
General  Washington  and  the  Junian  controversy)  rather 
than  the  exciting  topics  of  the  day ;  the  latter  selection 
being  open  to  the  suspicion  of  sensationalism  if  not  self- 
advertising.  An  exception  has  been  made  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  discussions  of  evidence,  in  that  part  of  the 
Appendix  wherein  is  mentioned  the  effort  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania bench  and  bar  to  frame  a  general  law  governing 
the  testimony  of  experts  in  the  courts.  This  was  done 
because  the  subject  is  a  broad  one ;  because  it  is  occu- 
pying the  attention  of  the  educated  people  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  of  other  States  and  countries ;  and  because 
the  points  of  view  seemed  new. 

Shortly  before  the  first  edition  of  this  book  was  pub- 
lished the  law  regulating  the  testimony  of  handwriting 
experts  in  Pennsylvania  was  that  laid  down  by  Chief 
Justice  Woodward,  in  Travis  vs.  Brown,  of  which  the 
summary  is  given  in  the  Appendix.     This  opinion,  liow- 


X  PREFACE  TO   THE   THIRD  EDITION. 

ever,  was  so  variously  interpreted  that  in  three  counties 
of  that  State  and  on  three  successive  months  three  con- 
tradictory and  incongruous  decisions  were  given  by  as 
many  judges.  The  last  was  the  redudio  ad  absurdum, 
for  it  declared  that  if  any  person  had  even  seen  writing 
alleged  to  be  by  the  hand  of  the  person  Avhose  writing 
was  in  dispute,  such  person  was  incompetent  to  testify 
as  an  expert.  Further,  that  the  only  opinion  which  an 
expert  was  authorized  to  express  was  whether  a  given 
piece  of  writing  were  in  a  simulated  hand, — an  abso- 
lutely impossible  task  where  no  genuine  writing  may  be 
used  for  comparison.  This  state  of  things  seemed  so 
unsatisfactory  that  the  author  drew  up  a  sketch  of  a 
law  which  was  put  into  legal  phraseology  by  Mr.  E.  P. 
Allinson,  approved  by  several  judges,  and  finally  pre- 
sented to  the  Legislature  by  the  present  United  States 
(then  Pennsylvania  State)  Senator  Boies  Penrose,  passed 
unanimously,  and  signed  by  the  then  Governor  (Hast- 
ings). The  text  of  this  present  law  will  be  found  in 
the  Appendix  after  that  of  the  summary  of  Judge  Wood- 
ward's opinion. 

The  author  was  induced  to  commence  the  study  of 
the  characteristics  of  handwriting  over  twenty  years  ago 
through  the  misunderstanding  by  an  attorney  of  the  dif- 
ference between  experts  on  the  physical  and  chemical 
properties  of  exhibits,  and  experts  in  chirography.  In 
the  foot-note,  page  204,  allusion  is  made  to  an  examina- 
tion of  the  first  kind  which  he  had  made  in  the  course 


PEEFACE  TO   THE  THIED  EDITION.  xi 

of  a  celebrated  trial.  Shortly  afterwards  an  attorney, 
who  was  aware  of  his  connection  as  an  expert  with  this 
trial,  desired  him  to  reach  an  opinion  as  to  the  authen- 
ticity of  certain  signatures.  He  protested  his  inexpe- 
rience in  this  kind  of  work,  and  only  after  the  failure  of 
the  lawyer  to  secure  the  services  of  any  professional 
handwriting  expert,  consented  to  make  the  attempt  by 
an  application  of  Francis  Galton's  ingenious  discovery  of 
composite  photography.  The  experiment  of  making  a 
composite  of  a  number  of  signatures  was  successfully 
tried,  explained,  the  result  submitted  to  the  court,  and 
the  unique  experience  achieved  of  bringing  conviction 
not  only  to  the  mind  of  the  judge  but  also  to  the  minds 
of  the  attorneys  on  both  sides,  in  spite  of  the  witness's 
assertion  that  he  was  not  a  handwriting  expert. 

From  his  studies  in  this  case  the  possibility  of  apply- 
ing purely  scientific  methods  to  these  difficult  questions, 
and  raising  the  whole  subject  alDOve  empiricism  (and 
charlatanism)  seemed  manifest,  and  much  of  his  leisjare 
time  since  1879  has  been  spent  in  endeavors  to  dis- 
cover and  perfect  such  methods.  The  pictorial  resem- 
blances, the  unusual  method  of  making  parts  of  certain 
letters  or  words  found  in  every  writing  when  closely 
examined,  which  constituted  almost  the  entire  founda- 
tion of  handwriting  expertism  in  the  past,  is  not  neglected, 
but  is  relegated  to  a  subordinate  role.  They  will  always 
be  valuable  for  suggestions  and  confirmations  of  other 
and  more  important  tests.  Indeed,  if  half  a  dozen  or 
more  of  these   superficial  peculiarities   be  found   con- 


xii  PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 

stantly  in  all  writings  by  a  given  hand,  it  will  be  next 
to  impossible  for  a  forger,  even  if  he  saw  them  all,  to 
reproduce  them  together  in  a  manner  indistinguishable 
from  the  hand  to  which  they  were  acquired  habits. 
Only  multiply  sufficiently  the  trifling  divergences  from 
the  normal,  and  they  will  form  an  insurmountable  bar- 
rier to  producing  imitations  which  must  be  executed 
naturally  and  simultaneously.  Unfortunately  it  is  not 
always,  nor  even  frequently,  that  enough  well-marked 
peculiarities  can  be  found.  And  even  although  an  ex- 
pert forger  may  not  be  able  to  make  a  signature  contain- 
ing all  the  characteristic  peculiarities  quite  as  natural  as 
the  genuine,  this  will  be  a  matter  of  opinion,  and  the 
discrepancies  may  not  be  great  enough  to  carry  con- 
viction that  the  writing  is  not  genuine.  But  it  became 
apparent  soon  after  the  serious  study  of  the  subject  was 
commenced,  that  the  method  of  composite  photography, 
though  admirable  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  stand- 
ard of  genuine  writing,  was  frequently  inapplicable,  owing 
to  the  restricted  number  of  specimens  of  authentic 
writing  available,  the  expense,  and  the  lack  of  time  af- 
forded to  obtain  this  ideal  standard.  Besides,  when  ob- 
tained, it  was  but  a  standard  with  which  the  real  work 
of  investigation  must  be  begun.  Other  methods  were 
successively  sought  and  found  to  supplement  composite 
making,  and  the  first  of  these  was  that  of  measurements, 
averages,  and  ratios. 

By  this  method  the  essential  characteristics  of  hand- 
writing are  elicited ;  those  which  a  writer  cannot  help 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION.  xiii 

introducing  and  no  other  can  imitate.  Such  are  the  re- 
lations in  length,  height,  and  angle  to  each  other  and  to 
the  whole,  of  parts  of  a  collection  of  words  ;  of  one 
word  ;  or  of  one  letter ;  discussed  under  the  chapter  on 
averages  and  ratios.  It  is  an  additional  and  most  impor- 
tant advantage  of  this  and  the  method  next  to  be  dis- 
cussed, that  the  number  of  elements  which  may  be  used 
for  ascertaining  the  genuineness  or  non-genuineness  of 
the  writing  is  almost  without  limit,  while  even  in  the 
most  favorable  cases  the  superficial  characteristics  are 
few  and  cannot  be  increased  at  need. 

But  there  are  occasions  where  the  marks  to  be  inves- 
tigated are  so  simple  in  character,  or  so  few,  or  vague, 
that  the  deductions  from  averages  and  ratios,  though 
theoretically  without  limit  in  number,  do  not  attain  a 
desu-able  defmiteness.  When  this  is  so,  the  microscopi- 
cal examination  of  the  ink  lines  will  usually  render  great 
assistance. 

The  author  was  led  to  investigate  the  curious  u-regu- 
larities  visible  under  sufficient  magnification  in  the  ink 
lines  of  writers  in  an  important  case,^  and  obtained  the 
results  stated  in  Chapter  X.  These  fringes  of  ink  lines 
have  been  heretofore  neglected  as  a  means  of  identi- 
fication, and  generally  regarded  as  derived  from  some 
peculiarity  of  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  without  reference 
to  any  personal  influence  of  a  writer.  On  closer  in- 
spection, however,  it  became   evident   that   there   is  a 


1  The  People  vs.  Roland  B.  Molineux,  New  York,  1898-99. 


xiv  PREFACE  TO   THE  THIRD   EDITION. 

certain  uniformity  in  character  of  the  irregularities  visi- 
ble in  the  writings  of  any  given  person,  though  not 
enough  to  identify,  him,  so  far  as  at  present  known. 
The  phenomena  to  be  observed  are  the  general  prepon- 
derance of  the  serrations  of  medium  size  at  a  magnifi- 
cation of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  diameters  on 
one  side  or  the  other  of  the  down-stroke  ink  line.  The 
up  strokes  and  horizontal  strokes  also  show  similar 
features,  but  Avith  somewhat  less  regularity,  and  to 
eliminate  as  many  as  possible  of  the  already  numerous 
unknown  variables,  only  the  down  strokes  have  been 
considered,  because  in  these  strokes  the  action  of  the  pen 
is  most  simple,  and  the  causes  of  deviation  most  easily 
ascertained.  The  superficial  appearance  of  these  serra- 
tions changes  with  different  ink,  pen,  and  paper,  with 
different  moods  and  degrees  of  health,  without  losing  a 
certain  type  character.  But  the  general  preponderance 
in  number  of  these  serrations  on  the  one  side  over  the 
other,  or  their  nearly  equal  division  between  both  sides  ; 
their  comparatively  constant  distribution,  and  general 
character,  seem  established,  from  the  observations  which 
the  author  has  been  able  to  make,  up  to  t^e  present 
time. 

With  regard  to  the  experiments  and  illustrations  of 
the  characteristics  observable  in  the  down-stroke  pen 
and  pencil  marks  of  an  individual,  the  author  desires 
to  state  clearly  that  in  his  opinion  the  subject  is  too 
new  and  too  important  to  treat  otherwise  than  with 
the  caution  observed  in  Chapter  X.     If,  indeed,  every 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION.  xv 

down-stroke  mark  of  every  individual  contain  charac- 
teristics belonging  at  least  to  a  limited  class  including 
him  (and  possibly  even  some  characteristics  peculiar  to 
the  writer  alone),  the  fact  can  be  irrefutably  established 
only  after  a  much  greater  number  of  experiments  than 
the  author  has  had  the  opportunity  to  make.  At  the 
same  time,  in  his  judgment  and  that  of  several  expe- 
rienced observers  to  whom  he  has  submitted  his  work, 
the  facts  elicited  speak  with  almost  convincing  force  in 
favor  of  the  existence  of  a  constant  general  character 
in  the  irregularities  observed.  No  hypothesis  of  chance 
variations,  owing  to  the  state  of  the  writer  or  the  kind 
of  writing  materials,  will  account  for  all  the  phenomena, 
and  the  probability  is  greatly  in  favor  of  the  view  that 
most  of  these  irregularities  are  derived  from  the  writer. 
If  so,  they  can  be  made  at  least  the  means  of  aiding  in 
his  identification.  The  reluctance  of  the  author  to  take 
a  more  decided  stand  on  the  question  at  the  present 
time  is  due  to  the  fact  that  he  is  not  proficient  in  the 
studies  which  must  be  relied  on  finally  to  settle  it, — viz., 
physiology  and  experimental  psychology.  The  verifica- 
tion or  refutation  of  his  provisional  conclusions  must  be 
left  to  physiologists  and  psychologists.  Fortunately,  Dr. 
Charles  S.  Dolley  and  Professor  Lightner  Witmer,  expe- 
rienced respectively  in  these  sciences,  have  examined 
the  subject,  verified  the  observations  of  the  author,  and 
are  in  perfect  accord  with  him  as  to  the  fact  that  the 
serrations  and  microscopically  small  sinuosities  are  de- 
rived from  unconscious  movements  of  the  writing-hand. 


xvi  PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION. 

On  this  subject  Dr.  Dolley  says,  in  answer  to  a  question, 
"  I  think  the  serrations  and  sinuosities  are  largely  due 
to  fluctuations  in  nerve  force,  while  the  alterations  in 
width  may,  to  some  extent,  be  due  also  to  variations 
in  blood-pressure  in  the  hand.''  (This  latter  is  simply 
another  manifestation  of  fluctuating  nerve  force.) 

The  methods  of  investigation  original  with  the  author, 
and  described  in  the  text,  are  the  following : 

1.  The  method  of  determining  the  order  of  sequence 
in  lines  which  cross  each  other,  by  oblique  illumination 
and  vision.     (Page  58). 

2.  The  method  of  discriminating  between  and  de- 
fining inks  by  their  respective  actions  on  light  trans- 
mitted successively  through  variously  colored  standard 
prisms  devised  by  the  author.  (Page  88  and  Ap- 
pendix.) 

3.  The  employment  of  portions  of  down-stroke  pen 
and  pencil  lines  under  sufficient  magnification  by  the 
microscope,  to  aid  in  the  identification  with,  or  separa- 
tion from,  other  writings.    (Page  97.) 

4.  The  application  of  composite  photography  for  the 
purpose  of  obtaining  the  most  accurate  standard  type  of 
a  given  mark,  word,  phrase,  and  especially  signature, 
ofl;en  repeated  by  a  given  writer.     (Page  109.) 

5.  The  use  of  measurements  and  numerical  averages 
of  parts  of  sentences,  words,  or  letters,  and  the  deter- 
mination of  the  ratios  of  such  parts,  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  whether  two  writings  show  the  same  evi- 
dences of  certain  acquired  habits.     (Page  132.) 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD   EDITION.  xvii 

6.  The  partial  analysis  of  a  handwriting,'',  made  by 
joint  efforts  of  two  hands,  into  its  component  parts. 
(Page  152.) 

7.  The  characteristics  of  marks  made  when  the 
writing  instrument  is  touclied  by  a  hand  other  than 
that  holding  it.     (P.  162.) 

The  author's  personal  thanks  are  due  to  Dr.  George 
H.  Hallett  and  Professor  Lightner  Witmer  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  and  Dr.  Charles  S.  Dolley  of 
the  Philadelphia  Central  High  School,  for  the  interest 
they  have  manifested  in  his  work,  and  the  encourage- 
ment which  their  confirmation  of  his  conclusions  has 
given  him.  Dr.  Hallett  has  contributed  a  very  interesting 
mathematical  demonstration  of  the  applicability  of  the 
author's  standard  colored  prisms  to  the  determination 
of  the  absolute  absorptive  power  of  inks  for  various 
colors  referred  to  a  standard  white  light. 

Professor  Witmer  and  Dr.  Dolley  have  repeated  with 
him  many  of  the  observations  recorded  in  the  chapter 
on  the  examination  under  the  microscope  of  down-stroke 
ink  and  pencil  lines,  and  confirm  their  accuracy  and  the 
author's  conclusions ;  the  former  furnishing  in  addition 
specimens  of  handwriting  by  himself  and  others  for 
illustrations  to  the  book. 

To  Professor  Samuel  P.  Sadtler  the  author  is  indebted 
for  many  valuable  suggestions  and  for  reading  the  proof 
of  Part  IV. ;  and  to  him,  Professor  Henry  Kramer,  and 
Dr.  Harris  A.  Slocum,  for  examining  under  the  micro- 
scope and  tracing  by  camera  lucida,  in  conjunction  with 


xviii         PREFACE  TO   THE  THIRD   EDITION. 

the  author,  specimen  pen-marks ;  and  to  Professor 
Arthur  W.  Goodspeed  of  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania for  reading  and  endorsing  the  presentation  of  the 
physical  part  of  the  determinations  by  means  of  the 
colored  prisms. 


The  foot-note  on  page  103  was  intended  to  remind 
readers  unfamiliar  with  the  microscope  of  the  total  re- 
versal of  all  parts  of  the  natural  object  in  the  image 
formed  on  the  retina ;  but  as  this  general  statement 
might  be  misunderstood  to  apply  to  the  camera  lucida 
tracings,  it  should  be  added  that  the  prism  used  in 
making  these  tracings  restores  the  top  and  bottom  of 
the  object  viewed  to  their  proper  positions,  leaving  the 
right  and  left  sides  interchanged. 

After  this  book  was  printed,  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell, 
who  expressed  great  interest  in  the  subject  of  the  or- 
dinarily invisible  tremors  in  handwriting,  sent  the  au- 
thor two  pamphlets  by  Augustus  A.  Eshner,  M.D.  ("A 
Graphic  Study  of  Tremor,"  from  the  Journal  of  Experi- 
mental Medicine,  vol.  ii.,  No.  3,  1897  ;  and  "  A  Case  of 
Congenital  Tremor,"  from  Medicine,  May,  1897),  de- 
scribing experiments  in  which  tambours  held  in  the  hands 
recorded  on  a  rotating  drum  the  fluctuations  of  press- 
ure with  forceps  or  with  the  fingers  and  thumb.  The 
amount  of  pressure  varied  from  one  to  four  ounces. 
These  experiments,  according  to  Dr.  Eshner,  record  only 


PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD  EDITION.  xix 

that  movement  which  the  author  has  called  vertical,  and 
it  is  gratifying  to  the  latter  that  his  only  estimate  of  their 
frequency  (p.  106),  from  the  assumed  space  passed  over 
by  the  pen  in  a  unit  of  time  {i.e.,  six  per  second),  agrees 
closely  with  the  average  of  the  "  tremograms"  very  care- 
fully and  accurately  taken  on  the  kymographion  by  Dr. 
Eshner  {i.e.,  6.7  per  second).  But  the  lateral  move- 
ments, which  are  both  much  more  frequent,  and  much 
more  important  in  imparting  distinctive  character  to  the 
pen-marks,  were  not  measured. 

The  author  has  specifically  disclaimed  any  intention 
of  discussing  the  physiological  causes  of  these  tremors, 
visible  only  under  high  magnification.  It  is  sufficient 
that  they  originate  in  the  body  of  the  person  making 
the  marks ;  therefore,  wherever,  in  this  book,  the  ex- 
pressions "  nerve  force,"  "  nerve  disturbance,"  "  nerve 
impulse,"  etc.,  occur,  he  requests  his  readers  to  discard 
the  noun  "  nerve,"  and  read  simply  "  force,"  "  disturb- 
ance," "  impulse,"  etc.  Thus  avoicUng  any  appear- 
ance of  pretending  to  a  knowledge  which  he  has  not, 
this  omission  will  hold  the  subject  aloof  from  the  sup- 
posed art  of  reading  character  in  pen-marks-, — "  graph- 
ology." 

If,  in  addition  to  that  conviction  of  the  human  origin 
of  the  greater  part  of  these  serrations,  which  is  derived 
from  the  experiments  and  illustrations  given  in  these 
pages,  one  desire  the  reinforcement  of  authority,  the  fol- 
lowing letters  from  my  honored  friends  Dr.  Horatio  C. 
Wood  and  Dr.  S.  Weir  Mitchell  will  supply  the  highest. 


XX  PREFACE  TO  THE  THIRD   EDITION. 

Dear  Professor  Frazer, — I  have  made  no  experimental  studies 
concerning  handwriting,  but  it  seems  to  me  positive  that  the 
various  serrations,  etc.,  must  be  at  least  in  part  due  to  involun- 
tary movements.  Tea,  coffee,  strychnine,  alcohol,  cocaine,  etc., 
so  enormously  affect  the  nervous  centres,  and  consequently  the 
involuntary  movements,  that  only  long  study  can  showr  how  far 
these  movements  are  really  characteristic  of  the  individual  and 
how  far  they  are  affected  by  moods  and  other  bodily  states.  I 
would  undertake  to  prodvice  violent  tremors  in  the  steadiest  hand, 
provided  the  possessor  of  this  hand  would  do  as  I  directed. 

Yours,  etc.. 

H.  r.  Wood. 

December,  1900. 


Dear  Doctor, — After  reading  your  study  of  pen-marks,  I  am 
well  satisfied  that  the  lateral  irregularities  are  due  in  large  meas- 
ure to  causes  which  belong  to  the  individual  neuro-muscular 
apparatus  of  man.  Of  course,  as  you  have  also  shown,  there 
are  external  physical  influences  which  have  their  effect. 

Yrs.  truly, 

S.  WEm  Mitchell. 

Dr.  Frazer. 
December,  1900. 

December,  1900. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Prefaces v,  viii 

Introduction 15 

PART  I. 
Physical  Considerations. 

Chapter  I. — Individual  charade?' 25 

Manner  of  writing,  25  ;  Position,  29  ;  Contraction  of  habits, 
30  ;  Evolution  of  ideal  pattern,  32. 

Chapter  II. — The  writing  instrument 35 

Pens  past  and  present,  35. 

Chapter  III. — The  loriting  fluid 38 

Inks  usually  met  with,  38 ;  Color  and  shade,  39. 

Chapter  IV. — The  substance  ivritien  upon 42 

Materials  of  which  it  'is  made ;  Paper-making,  42 ;  Era- 
sures ;  Insertion  of  pages ;  "Water-marks,  44 ;  Conceal- 
ment of  tell-tale  spots,  45 ;  Parchments,  4G ;  Furrows 
traced  by  the  pen-nibs,  48 ;  Stylographic  pens,  49. 

Chapter  V. — Preliminary  examination 50 

Care  of  the  document,  50  ;  First  scrutiny,  53  ;  Scanning  by 
transmitted  light ;  Eemains  of  tracings,  54 ;  General 
style  of  document  as  a  whole,  55 ;  Selection  of  a  method 
of  procedure,  56  ;  Choice  of  a  magnifier,  57  ;  Restricted 
use  of  higher  powers,  58. 

Chapter  VI. — The  sequence  in  crossed  lines 58 

Importance  of  the  determination,  58  ;  Superposition,  59  ;  Ink 
lines  transparent,  60  ;  "Widening  of  upper  line,  61 ;  Stain- 
ing of  straggling  fibres,  62  ;   Method  by  oblique  vision,  63. 
Chapter  VII. — Hesitation  and  tremor  of  feebleness,   illiteracy/, 

and  fraud 68 

Feebleness,  68  ;   Illiteracy,  70 ;  Fraud.  71  ;   Retouching,  74. 

Chapter  VIII. — Tapes  and  sealing-wax 76 

Use  of  tapes,  76  ;  Kinds  of  tape ;  Unitorniity  of  fibre,  77  ; 
Sealing-wax,  78  ;  Rounding  of  edges  by  re-melting  ;  Skin- 
marks  on  the  wax,  79. 

xix 


XX  TABLE   OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Chapter  IX. — Discrimination  between  inks  by  visual  tests  ...  81 
General  appearance  of  ink  lines  under  the  microscope,  81 ; 
Color,  82  ;  Dichroism  ;  Old  ink  ;  Changes  which  occur  ij 
the  inkstand,  83  ;  Test  by  light  effects,  84 ;  By  camera 
lucida,  86  ;  By  transmitted  and  reflected  light ;  By  oblique 
illumination,  87  ;  Colored  prisms,  88  ;  Comparative  tests 
by  color  prisms,  92  ;  Qualitative  use  of  the  prisms,  93 ; 
Monochromatic  light,  95. 


PAET  II. 
Grammapheny. 


Chapter  X. — Microscopical  examination  of  individual  peculiari- 
ties of  ink  lines 97 

Deviations  of  ink  lines  ;  First  class  visible  to  naked  eye,  97  ; 
Second  class,  invisible  to  naked  eye,  caused  by  rapid  fluc- 
tuations of  nerve  force  ;  Kesulting  in  recurrent  variations 
in  width  and  sinuous  line,  98 ;  Third  class,  minuter  than 
those  above,  resulting  in  still  smaller  serrations  on  the  mar- 
gins of  the  lines,  99 ;  Causes  of  these  deviations,  100 ; 
Character  of  the  irregularities  imparting  a  distinctive 
character  to  the  lines  in  which  they  are  found,  102  ;  Mini- 
mum velocity  of  these  tremors,  105 ;  Pencil-  mark  serra- 
tions, 106  ;  Letter  of  Professor  Witmer  on  serrations,  108. 

Chapter  XI. — G-raphic  average  by  composite  photography  .    .    .     109 
Letter  from  Mr.  Francis  Gal  ton,   116 ;  Methods  of  making 
composites,  119;  Washington's  signature,  122;  Whitaker's 
signature,  126  ;  Use  of  the  composite,  128. 

Chapter  XII. — Quantitative  methods 130 

Insufficiency  of  other  methods,  130  ;  Method  of  averages  and 
ratios;  Three  postulates,  132;  Numerical  average,  133; 
Katios ;  Measurements,  134 ;  Selection  of  points,  137 ; 
Angles,  138  ;  Employment  of  averages  obtained,  139  ;  Ex- 
amples, 140 ;  Letters  of  Junius,  145 ;  Study  of  word 
"more"  by  Sir  Philip  Francis  and  Junius  tabulated,  146  ; 
Summary  of  the  table,  147  ;  Study  of  word  "  Woodfall" 
by  Sir  Philip  Francis  and  Junius  tabulated,  149  ;  A  study 
by  angles  alone,  1.50  ;  Example  of  determination  by  ratios 
of  parts  of  a  single  letter,  151. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS.  xxi 

PAGE 

Chapter    XIII. — Guided   hands 152 

Theory,  152;  Analysis  of  guided  writing,  153;  Example 
studied,  154 ;  Kesults  tabulated,  155 ;  Experiments  con- 
ducted with  guided  hands,  157;  Results  tabulated,  158 
and  159  ;  Explanation  of  experiments,  160  ;  Summary  of 
results,  161 ;  Evidences  of  the  action  of  two  hands  in  joint 
signature  marks,  162  ;  An  actual  investigation,  164  ;  Ex- 
periments on  three  thousand  five  hundred  marks,  167 ; 
Summary  of  notes,  168. 


PART  III. 
Plassopheny. 


Chapter  XIV. — Kinds  of  forgeries 171 

Erasures,  173  ;  Instance  in  La  Science  Fran^aise  of  modern 
methods  of  cutting  out  and  photographing,  174. 

Chapter  XV. — Evidences  of  tampering 175 

Erasures,  175  ;  Restoration  of  original  marks,  177. 

Chapter  XVI. — Alterations  of  the  original  import  of  the  docu- 

tnent 178 

Difficulties,  178  ;  "Writing  over  a  stroke  or  dash,  or  when  one 
has  been  removed,  180 ;  Writing  over  an  erasure,  181  ; 
Additions  and  interlineations,  183  ;  Obvious  mistakes,  185. 


PART  IV. 

Chemical  Examination. 

Chapter  XVII. — Chemical  Constitution  of  Inks 186 

Schluttig  «fc  Neumann's  report,  186 ;  Requirements  of  Ger- 
man standard  inks,  186  ;  New  Danish  ink  standards,  189  ; 
Vanadium  inks,  191  ;  Standard  record  ink  of  Massachu- 
setts, 191 ;  Constitution  of  the  principal  inks,  193. 

Chapter  XVIII. — The  testitig  of  inks 194 

Objects  in  view,  194  ;  Importance  of  photographing  the  docu- 
ment; Chemical  testing,  195;  Reagents  desirable,  197; 
Manner  of  testing,  198  ;  Preliminary  investigation,  199  ; 
The  Reagents:  Oxalic  acid  ;  Hydrochloric  acid,  200;  Am- 
monium   hydrate,    201  ;    Potassium    sulphocyanate,    204 ; 


xxii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Tartaric  acid  ;  Citric  acid  ;  Sulphuric  acid  ;  Nitric  acid,  205  ; 
Acidified  tin  dicliloride  ;  Gold  terchloride  ;  Amnioniacal 
sodium  hyposulphite  ;  Sodium  hydrate,  206  ;  Chlorinated 
lime  ;  Iodine  ;  Alcohol,  207  ;  Two  examples  for  chemical 
invesHgatio7i ;  Superposition  in  crossed  lines,  208 ;  Ap- 
proximate age  of  writing,  209  ;  H(iger''s  viefhod,  210  ;  Re- 
agents in  the  cold,  212  ;  Heating  in  presence  of  reagents, 
213  ;  Determination  of  age,  214  ;  Sympathetic  inks  ;  Pro- 
cedure, 215;  Baudrimont  method,  216;  Water,  217;  Alco- 
hol ;  Test  papers,  218 ;  Various  other  tests,  219 ;  Use  of 
vapor  of  iodine,  220;  Origin  of  Table  V.,  222;  Table  of 
tests  for  inks,  223. 

Appendix 225 

A.  Formulas  for  determining  the  absolute  absorptive  power 
of  a  given  ink  mark  for  specified  color  rays  in  units  of 
standard  white  light,  by  measurements  of  the  respec- 
tive thicknesses  of  colored  glass  prisms  at  which  a  maxi- 
mum darkening  occurs  with  a  given  angle  of  the  inci- 
dent ray,  by  Dr.  George  H.  Hallett 225 

B.  Description  of  apparatus  with  which  the  photomicro- 
graphs were  made 229 

C.  Identification  of  colored  inks  by  their  absorption  spectra, 

by  Dr.   Charles  A.  Doremus 230 

D.  Note  on  photographic  testing  of  inks  by  Mr.  S.  P. 
Sharpies 234 

E.  Fireproof  inks  and  papers 236 

F.  Expert  testimony.  Discussions  by  Judge  Endlich, 
Messrs.  Dickson,  Johnson,  the  author,  and  others  .    .    .    237 

G.  Handwriting  evidence  in  Pennsylvania.  Summaiy  of 
Chief  Justice  "Woodward's  decision  in  Travis  vs.  Brown, 

and  comments  thereon 245 

The  present  Act  drawn  up  by  the  author  and  passed  by 

the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania 247 

H.  Appointment  by  the  American  Philosophical  Society  of 
a  committee  to  report  upon  the  present  methods  of  in- 
vestigating documents 248 

I.       The  apparatus  employed  in  reproducing  the  illustration 

of  crossed  lines  viewed  obliquely 249 

J.       Bibliography  of  the  subject 250 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

Portrait  of  the  author Froyiiispiece 

Figs.  1  and  2. — Flourish  lines  to  illustrate  necessity  of  caution  .      23 
Figs.  3,  4,  and  5. — Skeleton  arms  to  illustrate  position  of  writing 

hands 27,  28 

Plate  I. — Photomicrographs  of  crossed  ink  lines '62 

Fig.  6. — Position  of  low-power  lens  in  detennining  sequence  in 

crossed  lines  hy  ohlique  vision 64 

Plate  II. — Photomicrographs  of  crossed  lines  viewed  directly 

and  obliquely 65 

Fig.  7. — Tremor  of  feebleness 69 

Fig.  8. — Tremor  of  illiteracy 70 

Fig.  9. — Tremor  of  fraud 72 

Plate  III. — Punctured  cheque,  face  and  reverse  (Figs.  1  and 
2)  ;  Unstretched  and  stretched  linen  tape,  and  silk  "taste" 
(Figs.  3,  4,  5,  6)  ;  3Iagnified  image  of  black  ink  drop  on 

glass  (Fig.   7) ' 79 

Fig.  10. — Yellow,  red,  and  blue  colored  prisms 89 

Plate  IV. — Parts  of  lines  in  two  words  photomiOrographed  .    .    103 
Plate  Y. — Camera  lucida  tracings  of  margins  of  preceding  lines 

and  words  from  which  made 104 

Plate  VI. — Tracings  of  margins  of  lines  of  exhibits  in  the  trial 
of  the   People   vii.   Eoland   B.    Molineux,  M,  N,  and  O 
from  the  original  ink,  and  P  from  a  photograph    ....     104 
Plate  VII. — Half-tone  photomicrograph  of  part  of  L  written 

by  Professor  Witmer,  magnified  120  diameters  .        ...    107 
Plate  VIII. — Half-tone  photomicrograph  of  L  written  by  a  cor- 
respondent of  Professor  "Witmer,  magnified  120  diameters  .    107 
Plate  IX. — Half-tone  of  photomicrograph  of  a  line  drawn  with 

a  steel  pen  by  a  ruling  machine,  magnified  180  diameters  .     107 
Plate  IX.  a. — Half-tone  of  a  photomicrograph  of  part  of  AV 
written  in  pencil  by  Professor  "Witmer,  magnified  120  diam- 
eters     107 

Plate  X. — Camera  lucida  tracings  of  the  lines  of  Plates  VI 1., 
VIII.,  and  IX.  a,  L.  "W.  by  the  hand  of  Professor  Lightner 

Witmer,  and  by  one  of  his  correspondents 107 

xSiii 


xxiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Plate  X.  a. — Camera  lucida  tracings  of  lines  by  a  steel  pen  on 
a  ruling  machine  :  Fig.  1,  with  equal  pressure  on  nibs  ; 
Figs.  2  and  3,  light  and  heavy,  with  hollow  of  pen  turned 
to  the  right ;  Figs.  4  and  5,  light  and  heavy,  with  hollow 

of  pen  turned  to  the  left 107 

Plate  XL — Washington's  signatures  and   two   composites  of 

them  by  different  methods 125 

Plate  XII. — Half-tone  of  end  of  Whitaker  Will,  and  compo- 
site of  name  Kobert  Whitaker 126 

Plate  XIII. — Composites  of  signatures  of  Taylor,  Hawley,  Gar- 

.j  rett,  and  Morris,  and  representation  of  portable  reagent  case  129 
Fig.  11. — Forged  signatures  of  Taylor,  Hawley,  and  Garrett  .  .  129 
Plate  XI Y. — Guided  signatures  with  increasing  influence  of  the 

guiding  hand 157 

Plate  XV. — Joint  signature  cross,  the  pen  of  the  writer  being 

touched  by  a  blind  woman,  and  cross  made  independently' .     169 
Figs.  1  and  2  (Appendix.     A) — Mathematical  diagrams  demon- 
strating the  path  of  a  ray  through  the  color  prisms    .    .    226 
Objective  lens  for  making  photomicrographs  of  ink  and 

pencil  lines 230 

Absorption  spectra  of  various  colored  inks 233 

Apparatus,  employed  by  Mr.  Harold  Wingate  to  photo- 
graph crossed  lines  in  a  plane  oblique  to  the  axis  of  the 
lens 249 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  following  pages  cannot  pretend  to  meet  all  the 
wants  of  the  student  of  handwriting,  but  they  may  be 
found  useful  for  reference,  and  to  suggest  means  which 
might  be  overlooked  of  attacking  a  problem. 

Although  the  subject  of  which  the  little  book  treats 
has  claimed  the  attention  of  civilized  man  ever  since 
there  have  been  records  traced  in  characters  and  com- 
mitted to  the  custody  of  guardians,  there  has  been  no 
comprehensive  treatise  on  the  subject  known  to  the  au- 
thor of  this  book.  Here  and  there  in  the  technical  jour- 
nals articles  have  appeared  on  one  or  more  subdivisions 
of  this  heretofore  unnamed  study,  which  for  the  want 
of  a  better  word  may  be  termed  Bibliotics,  or  the  study 
of  the  essential  characters  of  documents,  but  no  at- 
tempt has  been  made  to  classify  it  as  one  subject  and  to 
put  its  branches  in  their  proper  places. 

Under  the  general  head  Bibliotics  come,  in  order, 
Gframmapheny,  or  the  determination  of  the  specific 
character  of  a  handwriting,  and  Plassopheny,  or  the 
detection  of  forgery  or  falsification  in  either  writing  or 
documents. 

Grammapheny  is  that  investigation  wliich  aims  to  ex- 
tract   from   a  sufficient   number  of  characters  written 

15 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

by  the  same  hand  the  type  which  is  the  result  of  the 
physical  structure  and  habits  of  an  individual,  and  by 
which  that  writing  is  distinguished  from  every  other. 

It  is  not  uncommon  for  questions  of  the  greatest  in- 
terest to  attach  themselves  to  such  a  determination 
totally  apart  from  any  question  of  fraud  or  forgery. 

As  instances  may  be  mentioned  the  investigations  of 
the  handwriting  of  the  letters  of  Junius.^  A  novel  and 
equally  interesting  problem  in  connection  with  a  case 
of  double  consciousness,  involving  a  difference  between 
the  acts  performed  in  one  state  from  similar  acts  per- 
formed in  the  other,  was  submitted  to  the  author  by  Dr. 
S.  Weir  Mitchell,  of  Philadelphia.  It  consisted  in  the 
comparison  of  two  different  handwritings  corresponding 


^  The  reader  may  need  to  be  reminded  that  in  1769,  in  a  London 
popular  newspaper  called  the  Public  Advertiser,  conducted  by  one 
Woodfall,  an  anonymous  letter  appeared  attacking  the  government. 
This  letter  was  followed  by  some  signed  Junius,  which  were  con- 
tinued till  January  21,  1772,  and  others,  evidently  by  the  same 
author,  signed  "Julius"  and  "Brutus,"  the  writer  having  prob- 
ably adopted  the  names  of  the  second  known  of  the  plebeian  family, 
whose  surname  was  given  to  him  on  account  of  an  apparent  dul- 
ness,  feigned  to  escape  the  fate  of  his  elder  brother.  These  letters 
created  immense  excitement,  and  every  effort  was  made  to  discover 
their  author,  whose  identity,  in  spite  of  the  publication  of  "Ju- 
nius identified"  by  Mr.  Taylor  in  1816,  and  the  positive  convic- 
tions of  Lords  Stanhope  and  Macaulay,  remained  uncei'tain  until 
Mr.  Twisleton's  admirable  work  appeared,  in  1871,  which  sets  all 
doubt  aside. 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

respectively  to  the  two  different  mental  states  of  Mary 
Reynolds.^ 

These  studies  are  directed  to  the  establishment  of 
the  peculiar  features  of  symbols  conveying  ideas  and 
traced  on  some  permanent  substance  by  hand.  Their 
inherent  peculiarities  of  structure  depend  upon  the  or- 
ganization, will,  and  imaginative  power  of  the  person 
who  has  written  them,  but  they  are  not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  fanciful  deductions  of  graphology.  The  patient 
analysis  of  the  elements  of  characteristics  in  hand- 
writing differs  from  graphology  as  craniology  differs 
from  phrenology,  so-called  ;  astronomy  from  astrology  ; 
or  the  study  of  finger-prints  from  palmistry. 

Plassopheny  is  concerned  with  questions  of  the  opposite 
kind, — i.e.,  with  the  detection  of  characteristics  in  docu- 
ments or  writing  inconsistent  with  their  ostensible  origin, 
and  therefore  with  the  assumption  of  their  genuineness. 
The  demonstration  that  the  paper  or  ink  of  the  docu- 
ment could  not  have  been  obtained  at  the  given  date  of 
the  document ;  or  that  the  characteristics  of  the  hand- 
writing are  incompatible  with  those  of  the  genuine  hand- 
writing of  the  supposed  writer,  are  illustrations  of  the 
field  of  Plassopheny.  It  will  be  remarked  that  so  far  as 
this  latter  investigation  is  concerned,  its  conclusions 
must  be  based  upon  a  preceding  establishment  of  gen- 


^  Mary  Reynolds  :  A  case  of  double  consciousness,  by  S.  Weir 
Mitchell,  M.D.,  Transactions  of  the  College  of  Physicians  of  Phila- 
delphia, April  4,  1888. 

2 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

uine  characteristics,  which  is  the  province  of  Gramma- 
pheny. 

The  method  of  pursuing  these  investigations  in  the 
past  has  been  similar  to  that  in  judging  of  works  of  art. 
The  question  has  been  addressed  to  the  unaided  eye, 
and  to  the  judgment  fortified  only  by  subjective  im- 
pressions, as  to  whether  certain  marks,  or  symbols,  or 
groups  of  them,  were  like  or  unlike. 

That  admirable  specimen  of  honest,  painstaking  work 
by  the  Hon.  Edward  Twisleton,  assisted  by  Messrs. 
Charles  Chabot  and  Frederick  George  Netherclift,  ex- 
hausts the  subject  of  the  comparison  of  the  writing  in 
the  letters  of  Junius,  the  writing  of  an  anonymous  note, 
and  the  writing  of  anonymous  verses  to  Miss  Giles, 
by  this  old  method ;  and  seems  to  connect  Sir  Philip 
Francis  indubitably  with  the  first  two,  and  Richard 
Tilghman,  of  Philadelphia,  with  the  last. ,  But  to  do 
this  it  requires  289  pages  of  large  quarto  form,  thickly 
strewn  with  cuts  and  engravings,  and  whole  pages  of 
facsimiles,  not  counting  266  plates  containing  all  the 
letters  in  controversy,  and  many  others  which  bear 
upon  them :  yet  in  the  whole  work  only  the  pictorial, 
or  least  essential,  features  of  the  writing  are  considered. 
One  is  struck  with  astonishment  at  this  wealth  of  illus- 
tration, this  unstinted  generosity  of  plates  and  text  fig- 
ures ;  but  one  is  tempted  to  ask  whether  the  conclusions 
finally  reached  might  not  have  been  attained  in  a  much 
less  tedious  and  expensive  manner. 

The  author,  while  modestly  keeping  his  share  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

joint  work  in  the  background,  says/  "  Still,  although  Mr. 
Chabot  has  written  his  reports  under  professional  re- 
sponsibility, and  they  thus  deserve  to  be  read  with 
more  than  ordinary  attention,  he  is  desirous — and  I 
publish  his  reports  with  the  same  desire — that  his  con- 
clusions should  in  no  respect  be  accepted  on  grounds  of 
mere  authority,  but  that  they  should  be  judged  of  entirely 
by  the  reasons  which  he  advances  in  their  behalf.  It  is 
important  to  bear  this  in  mind,  for  it  is  the  practice  of 
inferior  advocates  in  courts  of  justice  where  evidence  on 
handwriting  is  given  contrary  to  the  interest  of  their 
clients,  to  indulge  in  rhetorical  declamations  against  ex- 
perts ;  and  the  same  practice  is  sometimes  adopted  by 
others  who  have  not  the  same  excuse  for  desiring  to 
avoid  rational  discussions."' 

Taking  it  all  in  all,  the  text  of  I\Ir.  Twisleton's  contri- 
bution to  the  volume  is  among  the  most  thoughtful  and 
valuable  contributions  to  the  subject  of  expert  testimony 
which  the  author  of  "  Bibliotics"  has  seen. 

When  there  is  presented  before  a  court  of  law  a 
document  concerning  which  it  is  important  to  know 
whether  the  body  in  part  or  whole,  or  the  signa- 
ture, or  both  are  in  the  handwriting  of  some  person 
whose  writing  or  signature  appears  in  other  exhibits,  the 
counsel  on  each  side  usually  seeks  the  aid  of  one  or  more 
handwriting  experts. 

Commonly  a  teacher  of  writing  or  a  paying-teller  of 

'  Preface,  p.  xiii,  third  paragraph. 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

a  bank  is  preferred.  It  must  be  confessed  that  there 
seems  good  reason  for  the  latter  choice,  for  the  man 
upon  whose  immediate  judgment  as  to  genuineness  of 
signatures  depends  the  safety  of  a  bank  is  Ukely  to  have 
gained  much  experience  and  quick  discernment  of  any 
suspicious  circumstance.  Moreover,  he  is  not  to  be  easily 
deceived  in  the  cases  coming  daily  before  him.  Yet  how 
much  the  average  paying-teUer  depends  upon  the  trifling 
circumstances  attending  the  presentation  of  the  cheque, 
the  appearance  of  the  person  presenting  it,  the  probability 
of  the  drawer  inserting  such  and  such  a  sum,  etc.,  becomes 
apparent  when  one  has  heard  a  number  of  these  useful 
officers  testify  in  cases  where  they  are  deprived  of  all 
these  surroundings,  and  required  to  decide  whether  a 
certain  writing  is  by  the  same  hand  which  produced 
another  writing,  both  being  unfamiliar  to  them.  In  such 
cases,  being  obliged  to  create  a  familiarity  with  the  signa- 
tures of  a  man  whose  character  and  peculiarities  they 
have  never  known,  they  miss  the  aid  of  some  feature, 
such  as  a  dash,  a  blot,  or  the  distortion  of  a  letter  which 
would  recall  to  them  the  identity  of  the  writer.  Most 
of  the  best  experts  of  this  class  confess  that  they  can- 
not tell  on  what  their  judgment  is  based.  They  simply 
think  that  the  writing  is  or  is  not  by  the  same  hand  as 
that  admitted  to  be  genuine.  But  these  witnesses  are 
more  likely  to  be  right  than  the  more  pretentious  pro- 
fessors of  pot-hooks  and  hangers. 

The  case  is  analogous  to  that  of  the  determination  of  a 
mineral  species.     There  are  many  persons  who,  in  spite 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

of  a  lack  of  knowledge  of  chemistry  and  crystallography, 
can  readily  determine  a  mineral  species  by  looking  at, 
and  handling  a  fragment  of  it.  There  are  others  more 
versed  in  book  knowledge,  who  can  write  the  formulas 
of  most  mineral  species  on  the  black-board,  and  repeat 
from  memory  the  characters  which  each  of  these  min- 
erals should  show,  but  who  are  very  inferior  to  the  first 
named  in  actually  detecting  and  naming  a  fragment  at 
sight.  But  if  the  identification  is  important,  involving 
the  disposition  of  money,  or  the  establishment  of  a  prin- 
ciple, recourse  is  had  to  the  chemist,  who  determines, 
by  careful  experiments  and  complex  processes  in  his 
laboratory,  the  real  constituents  of  the  substance.  From 
his  results  there  can  be  no  appeal  except  as  to  the  accu- 
racy of  his  work  and  the  soundness  of  the  conclusions  he 
has  drawn  from  it.  Yet  this  analyst  may  be  very  inferior 
to  the  first  observer  in  power  of  instantaneous  determi- 
nation, and  to  the  second  in  book  knowledge  of  minerals. 
Nevertheless,  so  deeply  seated  has  been  the  convic- 
tion, in  bench  and  bar,  that  the  only  means  of  discover- 
ing a  forgery  is  by  comparing  an  undefined  ideal  in  the 
mind  with  the  writing  in  question,  that  in  an  opinion  by 
Chief- Justice  Woodward  in  1862,  reviewing  the  law  in 
Pennsylvania  as  it  then  stood,  this  is  expressly  so  stated.^ 

'  This  opinion  settled  the  procedure  in  all  cases  involving  the  ex- 
amination of  experts  in  handwriting  down  to  May,  1895,  the  date 
of  the  passage  of  the  present  law,  sketched  by  the  author,  which 
will  be  found  in  another  place. 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

It  has  occurred  more  than  once  in  the  writer's  ex- 
perience that  papers  have  been  handed  to  him,  while 
on  the  witness  stand,  with  the  demand  that  he  should 
state  whether  or  not  they  were  forgeries,  and  although 
he  has  always  protested  that  this  kind  of  guessing  is  a 
mere  waste  of  the  time  of  the  court,  the  presiding  judge 
has  occasiojially  insisted  on  compliance.  It  would  be  as 
reasonable  to  hand  to  a  witness  a  piece  of  a  cast-iron 
bar  and  require  him  to  state,  by  inspecting  it,  how  much 
phosphorus  it  contains,  and  whether  it  was  run  from  the 
same  furnace  as  another  specimen. 

The  fundamental  idea  of  an  analytical  investigation 
implies  a  careful  and  laborious  study  of  all  the  facts  by 
the  use  of  instruments,  and  by  the  aid  of  methods  which 
cannot  be  employed  in  a  court-room.  Within  reason- 
able limitations  the  more  rapidly  an  opinion  is  formed 
the  less  value  it  has  on  this  as  on  all  other  subjects. 

The  procedures  suggested  in  the  following  pages  re- 
quire a  place  where  observations  can  be  carried  on  with- 
out surrounding  distractions,  instruments  suited  to  the 
investigation,  and  plenty  of  time  to  make  them.  The 
court  which  requires  an  expert,  who  bases  his  conclu- 
sions on  this  class  of  work,  to  resort  to  the  practice  of 
guessing,  clearly  oversteps  its  privileges  and  does  a 
wrong  to  the  witness. 

While  considering  the  subject  of  expert  witnesses  the 
necessity  of  extreme  caution  in  forming  conclusions  can- 
not be  too  strongly  emphasized.  The  first  legitimate 
conclusion  which  is  likely  to  be  reached  in  the  course  of 


INTRODUCTION. 


23 


discovering  a  fraud  is  merely  that  tlie  document  is  sus- 
picious, or  cannot  be  proved  to  be  genuine.  Every  con- 
tingency which  the  experimenter  can  think  of  should  be 
invoked  to  explain  away  a  circumstance  seeming  to  sug- 
gest the  theory  of  fraud.  Where  a  number  of  unlikely 
hypotheses  must  l)e  assumed  in  order  to  explain  the 
appearance,  they  will  ultimately  force  the  conviction  of 
falsification,  and  this  conviction  is  less  liable  to  be  changed 
if  it  has  grown  steadily  in  spite  of  all  attempts  to  avoid  it. 
On  the  other  hand  the  following  flourish  line  is  an 
illustration  of  the  necessity  of  caution  in  forming  con- 
clusions. 

Fig.  1. 

a 


Upper  sheet. 
Fig.  2. 


Lower  sheet. 


It  occurred  under  a  signature  in  the  ordinary  way. 
The  writing  was  done  on  two  sheets  of  paper  separated 
by  a  sheet  of  carbon  paper  inserted  for  the  purpose  of 
making  a  duplicate.  The  stroke  was  made  rapidly  and 
with  some  force,  as  was  the  custom  of  the  writer. 
When  the  sheets  were  separated  and  examined,  his  sur- 
prise was  great  to  find  the  lower  flourish  (which  is  the 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

lower  in  the  accompanying  illustration)  entirely  different 
from  the  upper  one  as  to  the  direction  of  the  line. 
Whereas  the  first  stroke  from  right  to  left  on  the  upper 
flourish  turned  downward  abruptly,  in  the  carbon  copy 
it  continued  parallel  to  the  edges  of  the  paper.  The 
only  possible  explanation  is  that  in  making  the  flourish, 
a,  the  pen-hand  must  have  adhered  to,  and  turned  the 
upper  sheet  on  the  back  of  the  carbon  paper  nearly  at 
right  angles  to  its  former  position  ;  and  the  upper  sheet 
must  have  come  back  to  its  place  before  the  second 
stroke  and  the  final  vertical  dashes,  6,  were  made.  The 
final  horizontal  loop  of  the  second  stroke  in  the  upper 
sheet,  c,  was  not  repeated  by  the  carbon  paper  on  the 
lower  sheet. 

If  an  important  issue  had  depended  upon  proving 
that  the  carbon  copy  was  made  by  the  same  hand  and 
at  the  same  time  as  the  upper  writing,  this  non-agree- 
ment of  the  two  flourish  lines  would  very  likely  have 
been  fatal  to  the  establishment  of  what  was  actually 
the  fact. 


PART  I. 

PHYSICAL   CONSIDERATIONS. 

¥¥ 
CHAPTER    I. 

INDIVIDUAL    CHARACTER. 

The  Manner  of  Writing. — For  the  purpose  of  this 
little  work  it  is  sufficient  to  consider  the  art  of  writing 
as  practised  by  most  civilized  western  nations.  But  the 
principles  involved  are  equally  applicable  to  Sanscrit, 
Hieroglyphics,  Japanese,  Chinese,  Persian,  or  Arabic, 
independently  of  whether  the  significance  of  the  symbols 
be  understood.^ 

In  ordinary  writing  the  page  is  laid  on  a  support, 
usually  near  the  edge  of  a  table,  and  the  hand  holding 
the  pen  is  laid  either  on  or  immediately  below  the  edge 

'  It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  force  of  the  explanation  given 
by  Lords  Eldon  and  Kenyon  of  the  former  exclusion  of  expert  testi- 
mony on  handwriting  in  common  law  [see  preface  of  Hon.  Edw. 
Twisleton,  of  Report  of  Chabot,  etc.,  on  the  writings  of  Junius, 
p.  lix],  "because  of  the  inability  of  some  of  the  jury  to  read." 
It  is  not  at  all  necessary  that  they  should  be  able  to  read  in  order  to 
fully  satisfy  themselves  of  a  forgery  ;  nor  would  their  ability  to  read 
enable  them  ipso  facto  to  detect  a  forgery. 

,26 


26  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

of  the  paper.  The  elbow,  some  part  of  the  forearm/ 
or  the  side  of  the  hand  is  generally  used  as  a  pivot,  and 
the  hand  somewhat  bent,  while  the  pen,  supported  by 
the  fingers,  moves  across  the  paper  from  left  to  right, 
the  fingers  in  the  main  producing  the  movement  of  the 
pen  up  and  down,  and  the  wrist,  forearm,  or  shoulder 
giving  the  lateral  motion  necessary  to  execute  any  de- 
sired mark  requiring  a  longer  excursion  than  the  fingers 
can  perform. 

Fig.  3  represents  the  ordinary  position  of  the  arm  in 
the  act  of  writing,  i.e.,  with  the  support  and  pivot  at 
some  point  between  the  elbow  and  wrist;  a  skeleton 
arm  being  selected  in  order  to  show  the  positions  which 
the  bones  assume,  and  to  draw  attention  to  the  fact  that 
an  essential  part  of  the  character  of  handwriting  depends 
upon  the  habit  of  placing  a  particular  part  of  this  rigid 
structure  on  the  table  as  a  pivot  around  which,  as  a 
centre,  the  writing  is  traced.  Habit  enables  the  writer 
to  prevent  the  appearance  of  a  curve  in  the  line  of  writing 
by  compensating  movements  of  the  fingers.  Every  time 
the  pivot  is  changed  the  pen  is  naturally  raised  from  the 

1  "The  forearms  and  not  the  elbows  should  rest  upon  the  desk. 
The  pen  should  be  passed  across  the  paper  by  a  movement  of  the 
wrist  and  not  of  the  arm." — A  Manual  of  Handwriting,  etc.,  by 
F.  Betleridge,  London,  1887. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  author  of  these  pa^es  has  no 
intention  of  attempting  to  instruct  in  the  proper  manner  of  writing, 
but  merely  wishes  to  represent  the  principal  methods  which  are 
actually  employed,  whether  they  ])e  faulty  or  not. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY. 


27 


paper,  and  therefore  the  number  of  times  the  pen  is  re- 
moved from  the  paper  will  in  great  measure  depend 


upon  the  length  of  the  radius  between  the  point  of  sup- 
port and  the  point  of  the  pen.  In  Fig.  3  the  hand  could 
write  entirely  across  the  note-paper  page  represented 
without  curving  the  writing,  by  shifting  its  position  once 
or  twice,  but  it  would  not  be  easy  to  write  fluently  with- 
out such  changes. 

Fig.   4. 


Fig.  4  represents  the  arm  pivoted  on  the  elbow,  thus 
increasing  by  half  the  length  of  the  forearm  the  radius 
of  lateral  motion,  and  rendering  fewer  changes  of  posi- 
tion of  the  pivot  necessary.     Handwriting  of  experts  hi 


28  STUDY  OF  HANDAVRITING 

calligraphy  is  often  made  in  this  way.  It  permits  a 
greater  range  of  motion  and  allows  more  paper  to  be 
covered  without  removing  the  pen. 

In  Fig.  5  the  elbow,  forearm,  and  wrist  are  all  in  con- 
tact with  the  table,  and  the  range  of  free  motion  with- 
out change  of  position  is  as  small  as  it  can  be.  In  this 
attitude  it  would  be  necessary  to  shift  the  arm  contin- 

FiG.   5. 


ually  at  the  conclusion  of  every  one  or  two  words  traced 
on  the  paper.  It  is  the  position  naturally  assumed  by 
those  writing  with  a  board  on  the  lap,  in  bed,  or  on  a 
very  high  table. 

Of  course  these  are  but  three  of  innumerable  posi- 
tions which  may  be  assumed  by  a  writer,  but  they  are, 
perhaps,  the  most  common. 

Some  writers  who  are  obliged  to  sign  their  names 
very  often,  or  who  act  as  paying  clerks  in  large  mer- 
cantile establishments,  write  the  few  words  continually 
demanded  without  touching  any  support  at  all  with  the 
hand  or  arm.  Some  pivot  the  wrist  on  the  top  of  the 
table,  others  hold  the  pen  in  an  unusual  position  and 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  29 

bring  different  parts  of  the  hand  in  contact  with  the 
paper.  But  however  a  man  may  write,  if  his  style  be- 
come a  habit,  it  may  be  reduced  to  the  elements  of  a 
fairly  constant  pivot  and  radius,  and  certain  methods  of 
using  the  fingers,  altogether  giving  a  character  to  the 
writing  which  may  be  detected  wherever  it  is  seen. 

Position. — The  hand  soon  moves  so  far  along  the 
paper  that  a  new  position  must  be  taken  by  that  part  of 
the  forearm  or  hand  used  as  a  pivot.  This  fact,  together 
with  the  individual  peculiarities  of  every  bony  structure, 
and  the  very  different  methods  which  different  per- 
sons employ  to  avail  themselves  of  it,  is  of  importance 
in  studying  the  results  of  these  efforts  in  a  page  of 
writing  or  a  signature.  These  will  be  more  fully  referred 
to  hereafter,  but  it  may  be  generally  mentioned  that 
some  writers  move  the  forearm  at  the  end  of  every  two 
or  three  letters,  while  others  attain  the  power  of  com- 
pensating, by  larger  excursions  of  the  fingers,  for  the 
naturally  descending  curve  of  writing  traced  by  the 
pen. 

The  same  peculiarities  are  noticeable  in  the  manner 
in  which  the  pen  is  lifted  from  the  paper :  some  writers, 
and  usually  those  who  have  a  great  deal  of  writing  to 
do,  lifting  the  pen  only  when  the  pivot  must  be  changed, 
and  othei*s  fashioning  each  letter  separately  and  often 
leaving  spaces  between  the  individual  letters  of  a  word  as 
large  as  between  separate  words.  This  latter  habit  is 
commonest  among  those  who  have  little  writing  to  do, 
and  among  the  aged  or  infirm. 


30  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

Contraction  of  Habits  in  Writing. — These  peculi- 
arities, as  well  as  the  shading  of  the  letters,  and  the 
hesitating  or  determined  manner  of  making  dashes,  dots, 
and  flourishes,  are  all  connected  with  the  temperament 
of  the  writer,  and  have  been  made  the  subject  of  study 
with  a  view  of  reading  his  character  by  his  handwriting.^ 

Of  all  the  above,  the  manner  of  changing  the  pivot  in 
writing  is  the  most  important  object  of  preliminary  study, 
because,  when  the  points  of  change  have  been  ascer- 
tained, the  general  slant  or  slope  of  the  letters  and  the 
angles  of  the  different  parts  of  a  single  letter  with  the 
general  direction  of  the  line  of  writing  may  be  more  easily 
understood,  and  form  an  important  guide  for  establishing 
the  genuineness  or  non-genuineness  of  the  wTiting. 

The  parts  of  a  writing  which  demand  the  closest  at- 
tention are  those  which  have  been  made  most  uncon- 
sciously and  which  are  not  noted  by  a  superficial  view.^ 
The  height,  the  spread  of  the  letters,  the  peculiarities 
of  the  endings,  the  flourishes,  and  the  general  shape 
are  features  which  the  forger  observes  and  imitates,  often 
with  success  ;  but  the  curvature  of  a  letter  in  its  differ- 
ent parts  is  not  so  easily  appreciated  by  the  naked  eye, 

^  See  The  Philosophy  of  Handwriting,  by  Don  Felix  de  Sala- 
manca, etc. 

2  Of  course,  the  hidden  relations  to  each  other  of  parts  of  a  word, 
signature,  or  phrase,  often  repeated,  and  still  more  the  very  minute 
deviations  from  a  general  direction  seen  only  under  high  powers  of 
the  microscope,  which  form  separate  subjects  of  a  subsequent  part, 
are  not  alluded  to  here. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  31 

and  cannot  even  be  easily  traced  without  showing  under 
a  magnifying  glass  distinct  signs  of  hesitation  and  labored 
effort  very  unlike  the  unconscious  freedom  of  genuine 
writing. 

The  peculiarities  of  the  angle  with  the  horizontal,  and 
of  the  unconscious  rise  and  fall  of  the  lower  extremities 
of  the  letter  with  reference  to  a  real  or  imaginary  line 
drawn  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  word  or 
words,  and  sometimes  called  a  "  base  line,"  and  habits 
of  shading  or  amplifying  parts  of  letters  too  small  to  be 
seen  by  the  naked  eye,  are  tests  of  value  which  can  be 
applied  with  the  aid  of  a  simple  horn  protractor  and 
magnifying  glass,  but  which  generally  elude  the  scrutiny 
or  evade  the  successful  imitation  of  expert  forgers.  But 
there  are  variations  from  the  general  direction  in  the 
separate  parts  of  all  long  lines  which  come  to  view 
in  such  examinations  under  the  microscope,  and  these 
must  ever  defy  imitation  on  account  of  their  extreme 
minuteness,  though  they  are  fairly  constant.  They  will  be 
more  particularly  mentioned  in  another  place.  It  is  to 
these  peculiarities,  inappreciable  to  the  naked  eye,  and 
yet  very  constant  in  the  pen  or  pencil  marks  of  every 
writer,  that  the  expert  should  give  his  most  careful  at- 
tention. 

It  is  often  asserted  that  tracings  of  a  genuine  signa- 
ture invariably  show  hesitation  and  painting.  This  is 
not  always  the  fact.  Tracings  proven,  and  subsequently 
admitted,  to  have  been  such  have  shown  an  apparent 
absence  of  all  constraint,  and  a  careful  examination  has 


32  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

revealed  no  pause  of  the  pen.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
these  freely  written  tracings  have  almost  invariably 
shown  deviations  from  some  habitual  characteristic  of  the 
writer.  Moreover,  the  greater  the  skill  with  which  the 
model  was  followed,  the  more  certain  are  two  or  three 
such  tracings,  when  photographed  on  transparent  films 
and  superposed,  to  show  such  close  superficial  resem- 
blances as  to  proclaim  their  character  at  once. 

In  addition  to  the  visible  deviations  from  the  general 
direction  of  an  ink  line  traced  by  a  pen,  are  various 
others  indefinitely  more  minute  which  are  characteristic 
of  each  writer,  and  have  been  already  alluded  to. 

Evolution  of  an  Ideal  Pattern. — The  natural  ten- 
dency of  man  is  to  introduce  some  elements  of  symbol- 
ism in  what  he  is  obliged  to  copy,  and  to  seek  some  sort 
of  geometrical  symmetry  in  what  he  designs.  Wherever 
he  is  not  too  much  hampered  by  certain  forms  which 
he  must  introduce,  and  which  may  render  a  balance  of 
parts  about  a  median  line  unattainable,  he  tends  to 
evolve  symmetrical  designs.  This  may  be  seen  in  the 
highest  and  in  the  simplest  forms  of  ancient  architecture. 
When  the  parts  of  the  design  are  prescribed,  as  in  the 
representation  of  objects  in  nature,  he  soon  tires  of 
mere  mechanical  repetition  of  the  same  things  in  a  given 
sequence,  and  strives  to  convey  some  ulterior  idea  by 
the  manner  of  joining  these  parts.  This  gives  life  and 
language  to  sculpture  and  painting,  and  character  to 
handwriting. 

In  the  process  of  evolving  a  signature,  which  must  be 


AND   DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  33 

again  and  again  repeated  from  an  early  age  till  death, 
new  ideas  occur  from  time  to  time,  are  tried,  modified, 
improved,  and  finally  embodied  in  the  design.  The  idea 
finally  worked  out  may  be  merely  a  short  method  of 
writing  the  necessary  sequence  of  characters,  or  it  may 
present  some  novelty  to  the  eye.  Signatures  consisting 
almost  exclusively  of  straight  up-and-down  strokes, 
looking  at  a  short  distance  like  a  row  of  needles  with 
very  light  hair-lines  to  connect  them  :  signatures  begun 
at  the  beginning  or  the  end  and  written  without  re- 
moving the  pen  from  the  paper :  signatures  which  are 
entirely  illegible  and  whose  component  parts  convey 
only  the  mutilated  rudiments  of  letters,  are  not  uncom- 
mon. All  such  signatures  strike  the  eye  and  arrest 
the  attention,  and  thus  accomplish  the  object  of  their 
authors.  The  French  signature  frequently  runs  upward 
from  left  to  right,  ending  with  a  strong  down  flourish 
in  the  opposite  direction.  All  these,  even  the  most  il- 
legible examples,  give  evidence  of  experience  in  hand- 
ling or  mishandling  the  pen.  The  product  of  the  hand 
which  writes  most  frequently  is  often  very  much  harder 
to  decipher  than  the  worst  specimens  of  an  untrained 
hand.  The  characteristics  of  the  latter  are  usually  an 
evident  painstaking  desire  to  imitate  faulty  ideals  of  the 
letters  one  after  the  other,  without  any  attempt  to  at- 
tain a  particular  effect  by  the  signature  as  a  whole  ;  and 
in  very  extreme  cases  the  separate  letters  of  the  words 
constituting  the  signature  are  not  even  joined  together. 
But  the  simulation  of  such  a  signature  by  an  expert 

3 


34  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

penman  will  usually  leave  enough  traces  of  his  ability 
in  handling  the  pen  to  pierce  his  disguise.  Even  a 
short  straight  stroke  into  which  he  is  likely  to  relapse 
involuntarily  will  bear  witness  against  the  reality  of  the 
clumsiness  he  feigns.  It  is  nearly  as  difficult  for  a. mas- 
ter of  the  pen  to  imitate  an  untrained  hand  as  for  the 
untrained  hand  to  write  like  an  expert  penman.  The 
difference  between  an  untrained  handwriting  and  the 
trembling  effort  of  an  experienced  writer  who  is  ill  or 
feeble,  is  that  in  the  former  may  be  seen  abundant  in- 
stances of  ill-directed  strength,  and  in  the  latter  equally 
abundant  instances  of  Avell-conceived  design  with  a 
failure  of  the  power  to  execute  it. 

Observation  of  such  points  is  frequently  of  value  in 
aiding  the  expert  to  understand  the  phenomena  which 
he  meets.  They  belong  to  a  class  which  does  not 
require  the  application  of  standards  of  measure,  but 
only  experience  and  memory  of  other  similar  instances 
whose  history  is  known,  and  a  sound  judgment  to  dis- 
cern the  significance  of  what  is  seen. 

Only  general  suggestions  like  those  above  referred  to 
can  be  given  to  guide  the  student  of  handwriting,  but  the 
differences  between  genuine  and  pretended  states  of  the 
writer  will  generally  become  apparent  with  practice. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  35 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE    WRITING    INSTRUMENT. 

Pens,  Past  and  Present. — The  age  has  been  for  two 
generations  a  steel-pen  age.  The  greater  number  of 
forgeries  have  been  accompHshed  by  means  of  this 
instrument  in  deference  to  its  all  but  universal  adoption 
as  the  instrument  of  writing.  It  w^ould  be  more  exact 
to  say  that  metal  pens  have  superseded  the  old  goose- 
quill,  which  latter  is  only  found  among  the  conservators 
of  by-gone  customs,  along  with  shirt-frills  and  snuff- 
boxes. 

Except  that  the  old-fashioned  article  makes  a  "  softer" 
pen  (one  wdth  which  less  pressure  is  needed  to  induce 
a  flow^  of  ink),  the  principle  involved  is  the  same, — i.e., 
a  semi-cylinder  to  retain  the  supply  of  ink  by  its  capil- 
lary attraction,  fashioned  to  a  point  split  in  two,  so  that 
by  pressure  a  measurably  broad  column  of  ink  may  be 
made  to  rest  upon  the  paper,  and  by  moving  the  pen 
the  liquid  is  left  behind  as  a  line  which  marks  its  course. 
More  pressure  is  required  to  separate  the  nibs  of  metal 
pens,  but  the  force  required  is  seldom  great,  and  the 
choice  of  a  stiff  or  a  yielding  pen  is  the  result  of  the 
habit  of  the  writer  to  employ  little  or  much  pressure. 
One  difference,  however,  is  to  be  noted, — namely,  that 
whereas  furrows  are  rarely  made  by  quill-pen  nibs,  they 


36  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

are,  as  a  rule,  easily  observable  under  the  microscope 
in  writing  which  has  been  done  by  metal  pens. 

These  furrows  are  often  of  importance  in  forming  an 
idea  of  how  the  characters  were  traced,  whether  rapidly 
or  slowly,  with  or  without  unusual  tremor,  etc.,  and  in 
this  respect  metal  pens  (tipped  with  steel,  gold,  iridium, 
etc.)  add  a  characteristic  worthy  of  notice  to  the  traces 
left  by  quill-pens.  Again,  in  old  times,  when  the  trim- 
ming of  a  pen  was  constantly  undertaken  in  the  course  of 
any  long  writing,  the  same  document  was  liable  to  show 
differences  of  thickness  and  smoothness  of  lines,  free  or 
ink-filled  loops  in  different  parts,  even  when  written  by 
the  same  hand  and  at  the  same  sitting. 

With  a  metal  pen  such  changes  are  less  likely  to 
occur,  and  consequently  one  element  of  possible  con- 
fusion is  avoided. 

It  is  sometimes  of  interest  to  note  the  fact  that  dif- 
ferent parts  of  a  writing  have  been  made  with  different 
kinds  of  pens,  fine-  and  coarse-pointed,  broad-nibbed, 
stiff  or  pliant ;  and  such  observations  have  more  signifi- 
cance in  a  steel-pen  than  in  a  quill-pen  age.  But  in  late 
years  the  stylographic  pen  has  been  widely  adopted, 
and  threatens  to  invade  all  classes  of  writing,  and  to 
modify  the  methods  of  studying  the  tracings  of  the 
writing  instrument  in  some  degree.  The  principle  of 
construction  of  these  pens,  known  by  various  names,  is 
that  of  a  hollow  holder  to  contain  the  ink,  tapering  to 
an  acute  hollow  cone,  the  perforation  being  closed  by  a 
wire  of  platinum,  tipped  with  iridosmine,  or  some  other 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  37 

extremely  hard  substance,  to  resist  the  abrasion  of  the 
paper,  and  held  down  so  as  to  prevent  the  continuous 
flow  of  ink,  either  by  a  small  leaden  weight  (the  Mac- 
kinnon)  or  by  a  fine  spiral  spring  (the  stylograph). 

The  pressure  of  the  point  upon  the  paper  pushes 
back  the  tapering  wire  and  allow^s  the  ink  to  escape 
around  it  to  the  paper.  The  writing  appears  under  the 
microscope  as  a  central  shallow  furrow  on  the  soft 
paper,  usually  narrower  than  the  ink  line  which  stains 
its  edges  for  a  greater  or  less  .distance  from  botli  mar- 
gins. The  nature  of  the  instrument  .and  its  method  of 
feeding  the  ink  upon  the  paper  destroy  the  possibility 
of  shading,  an  ornamentation  so  important  to  the  cal- 
ligrapher,  but  it  has  compensating  advantages  in  the 
facility  it  furnishes  to  write  uniformly,  rapidly,  with  a 
constant  supply  of  the  same  ink,  without  blots,  and 
without  the  necessity  of  pausing  to  replenish  the  pen. 
The  main  characteristics  which  can  be  made  the  sub- 
jects of  exact  measurement  remain,  and  the  stylograph 
has  not  rendered  the  practice  of  forgery  notably  easier. 


38  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE    WRITING    FLUID. 

Inks  usually  met  with. — The  inks  in  common  use 
over  the  United  States  at  the  present  time,  and  for  some 
years  past,  are  not  as  numerous  as  one  might  be  led 
to  conclude.  There  are  probably  fifteen  or  at  most 
twenty  in  all,  including  the  most  popular  blue,  red,  ma- 
genta, and  green  inks.  But  among  these  there  is  a 
notable  difference  in  character.  Some  are  thick,  heavy, 
and  glossy  in  character,  and  flow  sluggishly  from  the  pen. 
Few  of  these  become  much  darker  by  standing.  In  this 
class  will  be  found  the  copying  inks  and  those  in  which 
a  large  quantity  of  gums  or  similar  thickening  agents 
is  used. 

Other  inks  are  pale,  limpid,  and  flow  easily  from  the 
pen,  and  this  class  usually  shows  a  notable  darkening  by 
exposure  to  sunlight  and  air. 

The  most  experienced  judges  prefer  those  writing 
fluids,  of  which  the  iron  nutgall  ink  is  the  type,  which 
grow  gradually  darker  for  two  weeks  or  more  after  the 
writing  is  made.  The  proper  black  is  only  attained  after 
the  complete  oxidation  of  the  ferrous  salt,  which  takes 
place  on  and  in  the  paper,  the  final  product  becoming 
incorporated  with  the  fibre.  But  since  this  ink  is  pale 
when  first  used,  some  permanent  blue,  like  indigo  or 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  39 

alkali  blue,  is  added  to  the  fluid  in  order  that  the  writing 
may  be  distinctly  legible  from  the  first. 

It  will  be  unnecessary  here  to  refer  more  particularly 
to  tiie  intermediate  varieties  or  to  discuss  their  various 
compositions.  The  exhaustive  treatise  of  Schluttig  and 
Neumann  '  on  this  subject  may  be  referred  to  for  further 
information  than  is  contained  in  the  chapter  of  this  book 
which  discusses  inks. 

Judg-ment  of  Color,  Lustre,  and  Shade. — The  color 
or  blackness  of  one  ink  as  compared  with  another  is 
very  diiTicult  to  judge  by  the  naked  eye,  or  when  a  broad 
is  compared  with  a  fine  line.  In  very  numerous  cases 
an  examination  of  the  two  hues  when  magnified  will 
lead  to  the  reversal  of  a  judgment  based  upon  exami- 
nations by  the  naked  eye  alone. 

In  this  kind  of  preliminary  examination,  which  at  first 
thought  seems  easy,  it  is  better  to  have  recourse  to  the 
magnifying  glass  or  microscope,  which  presents  a  smaller 
area  with  great  distinctness. 

Differences  in  Color  and  Shade. — The  judgment  by 
the  naked  eye  as  to  the  colors  or  shades  of  two  inks  is 
very  likely  to  be  erroneous,  partly  because,  when  a 
lighter  ink  is  more  heavily  massed  than  a  darker  one,  the 
effect  on  the  retina  is  as  if  it  were  the  darker.     Under 


^  Die  Eisengallustinlen.  Grundlagen  zu  ihrer  Beurtheilung.  Im 
Auftrage  der  Firma  Aug.  Leonhardi  in  Dresden,  chemische  Fabriken 
fiir  Tiiiton.  l)earbeitet  von  deren  Cheinikern  Oswald  Schluttig  und 
Dr.  G.  S.  Neumann.  Mit  2  Holzschnitten,  einer  schwarzen.  und 
zwei  farbigen  Tafeln.     Dresden  :  v.  Zahn  und  Jaensch.  1890. 


40  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

the  magnifying  glass  the  field  is  more  restricted,  the  finer 
lines  are  broadened,  and  one  has  larger  areas  of  ink  to 
compare  with  less  surface  of  strongly  contrasted  white 
paper.  Similarly,  an  ink  without  noticeable  bluish  tinge 
to  the  naked  eye  may  appear  quite  blue  under  the  glass, 
where  the  films  of  ink  are  broadened  and  thinned  and 
their  characters  better  observed. 

The  methods  for  detecting  these  slight  differences  by 
prisms  of  colored  glass  will  be  mentioned  later. 

In  order  to  judge  whether  two  marks  have  been  made 
by  the  same  ink,  they  should  be  viewed  by  reflected  light 
to  note  the  color,  lustre,  and  thickness  of  the  ink  film. 
Many  inks  blot  or  "  run"  on  badly-sized  paper, — i.e.,  the 
lines  are  accompanied  by  a  paler  border  which  renders 
their  edges  less  well  defined. 

Even  on  well-sized  papers  this  class  of  inks  usually 
exhibits  only  a  stained  line  of  no  appreciable  thickness 
where  the  fluid  has  touched  the  paper. 

The  copying  and  glossy  inks,  which  often  contain  a 
considerable  c|uantity  of  gum,  do  not  "  run"  or  blot  even 
on  partially-sized  paper,  and  show  under  the  glass  a  con- 
vexity on  the  surface  of  the  line  and  an  appreciable 
thickness  of  the  film. 

It  does  not  always  follow  when  an  ink  has  made  a 
blur  on  one  part  of  the  paper  and  not  on  another  that 
the  paper  has  been  tampered  with.  A  drop  of  water 
accidentally  let  fall  on  the  blank  page  will  frequently 
affect  the  sizing  in  that  place  :  and,  besides,  all  papers  are 
not  evenly  sized  in  every  part. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  41 

The  inks  rich  in  gum,  or  those  concentrated  by  evapo- 
ration from  standing  in  an  open  inkstand,  give  a  more 
lustrous  and  thicker  stroke.  Some  inks  penetrate  deeper 
into  the  pores  of  the  paper  than  others,  and  some  pro- 
duce chemical  effects  upon  the  sizing  and  even  upon  the 
paper  itself,  so  that  the  characters  can  easily  be  recog- 
nized on  the  under  side  of  the  sheet.  In  some  old  docu- 
ments the  ink  has  been  known  to  so  far  destroy  the  fibre 
of  the  paper  that  a  slight  agitation  of  the  sheet  would 
shake  out  as  dust  much  of  the  part  which  it  covered, 
thus  leaving  an  imperfect  stencil  of  the  original  writing. 

It  should  be  remembered  here  that  in  the  last  twenty- 
five  years,  or  since  the  introduction  into  general  com- 
merce of  aniline  colors,  which  Hofmann  discovered  in 
1846,  these  latter  have  been  employed  more  and  more 
in  writing  fluids  ;  not  only  in  mixtures  of  which  they  are 
the  principal  ingredients,  but  to  a  greater  or  less  degree 
in  all  inks.  Their  presence,  even  in  small  quantity,  in 
the  gallo-tannate  of  iron  and  logwood  inks  can  generally 
be  detected  by  an  iridescent  and  semi-metallic  lustre. 

The  presence  of  numerous  blots  and  unduly  thickened 
lines  in  writing  will  indicate  a  more  than  desirable  flow 
of  ink,  which  may  result  from  its  fluidity,  or  the  clumsi- 
ness, or  unnecessarily  strong  pressure  of  the  writer,  or  all 
three.  In  certain  cases  this  may  furnish  a  clue  to  assist 
in  determining  whether  two  writings  or  parts  of  the  same 
document  have  been  written  by  the  same  hand  or  with 
the  same  ink. 


42  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 


CHAPTER    IV. 


THE    SUBSTANCE    WRITTEN    UPON. 


Materials  of  which  it  is  made.  —  The  material 
which  bears  the  writing  under  investigation  may  be  of 
cotton,  linen,  esparto,  wood  pulp,  or  parchment.  All 
but  the  last  have  readily  recognizable  fibres,  each  differ- 
ing in  appearance  and  in  fact  from  the  other.  Photo- 
micrographs of  these  may  be  seen  in  the  "  Text-Book  of 
Paper  Making,"  ^  by  C.  T.  Cross  and  E.  J.  Bevan,  and  in 
other  similar  treatises  and  articles. 

Paper  Making. —  The  fibres  are  interlocked  with 
each  other  during  the  process  of  ''  beating"  the  pulp, 
and  are  further  "  loaded"  with  clay,  kaolin,  or  an  as- 
bestos-like material  called  "  agalite,"  which  is  nearly 
pure  magnesium  silicate.  These  materials,  which  are 
added  to  all  but  special  grades  of  paper,  are  not  harm- 
ful constituents  unless  in  excessive  amount,  and  the  last 
named  being  by  nature  fibrous,  like  the  organic  mate- 
rials with  which  it  is  mixed,  assists  in  binding  them  to- 
gether, and  imparts  a  hard  finish  to  the  paper.  The 
"  pearl  hardening"  is  effected  by  means  of  precipitated 
calcium  sulphate  (gypsum,  plaster  of  Paris). 


1  E.  &  F.  N.  Spon,  125  Strand,  London,  and  35  Murray  Street, 
New  York,  1888. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  43 

In  addition  to  these  "  loading"  ingredients,  papers  in- 
tended to  be  written  upon  are  "  sized"  or  immersed  in 
an  aluminum  resinate  soap  mixed  with  about  one-third 
its  weight  of  starch  paste,  which  serves  to  hold  together 
the  fibres  and  also  to  prevent  the  ink  from  running. 
After  about  four  parts  by  weight  of  this  mixture  to  one 
hundred  parts  of  the  pulp  have  been  thoroughly  mixed, 
a  solution  of  alum  is  run  in,  after  having  been  dissolved 
in  lead  or  copper  tanks,  as  this  substance  acts  rapidly  on 
iron,  and  would  saturate  the  pulp  with  the  iron  salt,  and 
thus  impair  its  value.  It  may  be  said  that,  in  spite  of 
the  careful  preparation  of  the  paper  pulp,  the  finished 
product  is  often  adulterated  by  iron  in  some  slight  de- 
gree and  will  give  a  reaction  for  that  metal  by  a  suffi- 
ciently delicate  test.  Nearly  three  times  the  amount  of 
alum  is  required  to  precipitate  the  resin  from  its  combi- 
nation with  sodium.  Ultramarine  blues  and  aniline 
pinks  are  added  to  counteract  the  yellowish  color  of 
the  cellulose.  Hand-made  papers  are  sized  by  dipping 
them  into  a  solution  of  gelatin  and  hanging  them  up  on 
fines  or  poles  to  dry.  The  sheets  are  then  calendered, 
either  by  passing  them  between  heated  or  cold  metallic 
roUs,  or  between  one  of  metal  and  one  of  compressed 
paper ;  or  by  pressing  them  in  larger  bundles  of  al- 
ternating paper  and  metal  plates  {Cross  ami  Bevan). 
The  effect  of  this  is  to  give  the  surface  of  the  paper 
a  hard  and  often  polished  surface,  on  which  the 
tracing  of  ink  remains  without  running  or  blotting,  is 
absorbed  into  the  loading  and  size,  and  also  stains  the 


44  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

fibres  of  paper  of  which  these  materials  fill  the  inter- 
stices. 

Erasures. — Wlien  an  erasure  is  made  on  the  surface 
of  such  a  paper,  the  mineral  and  organic  materials  of 
the  sizing  and  loading  are  removed,  and  the  fibres  of  the 
paper  which  they  unite  are  deranged  in  form  and  posi- 
tion. Such  a  surface  exhibits  invariably  the  "  teezed-up" 
ends  of  the  fibres,  and  generally  shows  by  the  agreement 
in  their  direction  in  what  way  the  scratching  was  done. 

Even  in  cases  where  a  substitute  for  the  sizing  has 
been  so  successfully  added  that  no  change  in  color  or 
surface  is  observable,  the  fibres  will  show  by  their  un- 
usual positions  that  they  have  been  disturbed.  When  an 
attempt  has  been  made  to  write  over  the  place  without 
sufficiently  restoring  the  sizing,  the  effects  can  be  seen  in 
the  running  of  the  ink  between  the  fibres  and  the  stain- 
ing of  the  body  of  the  paper  to  a  considerable  depth  from 
the  surface  and  to  a  considerable  distance  from  the  spot. 

Insertion  of  Pages. — In  cases  where  a  document 
of  several  pages  is  under  investigation,  and  tamper- 
ing is  suspected  with  only  one  or  two  of  the  sheets,  a 
general  investigation  of  the  character  of  the  paper,  as 
well  as  of  the  ink  in  each  sheet,  becomes  necessary.  If 
the  paper  be  ruled,  careful  measurements  of  the  dis- 
tance apart  of  the  lines  in  each  sheet  and  the  distances 
of  the  first  and  last  lines  from  the  upper  and  lower 
edges  of  the  paper  should  be  made  and  compared. 

■Water-marks. — Any  water-mark  or  other  device 
wrought   into   the   paper   should   be   looked   for.     The 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  45 

water-mark  is  made  by  receiving  the  soft  pulp  on  a 
wire  screen  on  which  a  design  of  some  kind  is  placed. 
When  this  pulp  is  raised  out  of  the  tub,  there  is  less 
pulp  over  the  raised  design  (or  more  if  the  design  be  in 
relief)  than  in  the  rest  of  the  sheet,  and  although  the 
subsequent  pressure  to  which  the  paper  is  subjected 
prevents  the  eye  from  detecting  the  difference  in  thick- 
ness, the  design  remains. 

Other  marks  are  introduced  by  the  "  dandy  roll,"  a 
light  roll  covered  with  raised  wires  in  the  form  desired, 
pressing  lightly  on  the  paper  while  still  moist,  while  the 
other  side  has  the  mark  of  the  wire  cloth.  If  the 
"  dandy  roll"  be  also  covered  with  wire  cloth,  the  two 
sides  appear  alike,  and  the  paper  is  called  "  wove" 
[Cross  and  Bevan). 

Any  such  marks  in  the  paper  furnish  excellent  means 
of  establishing  whether  or  not  one  or  more  of  the 
sheets  of  the  document  have  been  substituted.  When 
the  water-mark  is  faint,  or  not  immediately  noticeable 
while  using  the  paper,  it  is  so  much  the  better  as  a 
means  of  identification. 

Concealment  of  Telltale  Spots. — Awkward  marks 
which  might  prove  telltales  are  sometimes  scribbled 
over  with  a  pen,  or  covered  by  a  seal,  or  in  by-gone 
days,  when  wafers  were  commonly  used  to  close  letters, 
one  of  them  was  affixed  to  the  paper.  Chevallier  and 
Lassaigne  have  met  with  a  case  where  pieces  of  paper 
were  pasted  over  the  suspicious  place. 

A   patient   and   systematic   study    of    the   paper  will 


46  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

usually  lead  to  a  suspicion  of  such  treatment,  and  will 
suggest  means  for  its  discovery. 

Parchments. — It  sometimes  happens  that  the  docu- 
ment is  a  veritable  parchment.  Parchments  are  usually 
made  of  the  skin  of  sheep  or  lambs,  if  intended  for 
writing  purposes.  Goat  and  wolf  skins  used  to  be  em- 
ployed for  drum-heads  (Peignot). 

The  finer  and  smoother  sorts  of  parchment  caUed 
vellum  are  made  from  the  skins  of  very  young  calves. 

The  preparation  of  the  skin  for  writing  purposes  has 
scarcely  been  improved  since  the  time  when  Hildebert, 
Archbishop  of  Tours  (born  1054),  thus  partially  de- 
scribed it  in  a  sermon.  He  says,  "  A  writer  first  cleanses 
his  parchment  from  the  grease,  and  takes  off  most  of 
the  dirt.  He  then  entirely  rubs  off  the  hair  and  fibres 
with  pumice  stone.  If  he  did  not  do  so  the  letters  upon 
it  would  not  be  good,  nor  would  they  last  long.  He 
then  rules  lines  that  the  writing  may  be  straight,"  etc. 

Practically  when  the  skin  has  been  deprived  of  its 
hair  or  wool  it  is  placed  for  a  time  in  a  lime  pit, 
whence  it  is  taken  and  stretched  on  a  frame  and  drawn 
tight. 

The  workman  then  scrapes  the  flesh  side  with  a  blunt 
iron  instrument,  wets  it  with  a  moistened  rag  covered 
with  powdered  chalk,  and  rubs  it  with  pumice  stone. 
This  operation  is  repeated  once  or  twice,  when  the  hair 
side  is  turned  and  scraped.  After  drying,  it  is  again 
scraped  with  a  finer  tool. 

The  parchments  of  the  time  of  the  Romans  must  have 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  47 

been  very  superior  to  those  of  the  early  middle  ages, 
and  these  again  to  the  parchments  of  the  eleventh  and 
twelfth  centuries.  From  that  time  to  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, when  paper  began  to  be  employed,  parchment  grad- 
ually became  an  article  of  luxury  and  imperfect  manu- 
facture. It  is  still  occasionally  used  on  account  of  its 
great  durability. 

In  examining  a  parchment  on  which  a  supposed 
forgery  is  inscribed,  Mr.  Sittl  remarks  that  a  similarity 
between  the  two  sides  of  the  sheet  (which  can  be  deter- 
mined by  the  equal  visibility  of  the  ink)  gives  very  strong 
reason  to  doubt  the  great  age  of  the  skin,  because  there 
is  always  a  marked  difference  between  the  hair  side  and 
the  flesh  side  in  really  old  parchments.  The  great  differ- 
ences of  inks  of  different  periods  facilitate  the  discovery 
of  the  fraudulent  character  of  corrections,  emendations, 
and  notes.  These  observations,  however,  apply  to  cases 
where  it  is  desired  to  judge  parchment  documents  be- 
longing to  centuries  long  past. 

Erasures  in  parchments  produce  prominences  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  sheet.  The  ink  placed  upon  such 
erasures  has  a  peculiar  bluish  tinge.  It  happens  at  times 
that  a  whole  page  is  taken  out,  either  by  scratching  or 
rubbing  with  pumice  (which  was  the  practice  in  the 
eleventh  century,  when  parchment  became  so  valuable 
that  it  was  common  to  keep  up  the  supply  by  erasing 
the  writing  on  old  parchments)  or  by  washing. 

Where  the  latter  method  was  used  the  writing,  as  in 
palimpsests,  can  be  made  to  reappear  by  warming. 


48  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

The  parchment  can  either  be  laid  on  a  hot  plate  or 
pressed  with  a  hot  flat-iron  between  two  sheets  of 
paper  (Sittl). 

Furrows  traced  by  the  Pen-nibs. — Under  the  micro- 
scope the  furrows  traced  by  the  pen-nibs  are  usually 
easily  visible,  and  they  differ  with  every  variety  of  pen 
employed.  A  stiff,  flne-pointed  pen  makes  two  com- 
paratively deep  lines  a  short  distance  apart,  which  appear 
blacker  in  the  writing  than  the  space  between  them,  be- 
cause they  fill  with  ink,  which  afterwards  dries,  and  pro- 
duces a  thicker  layer  of  black  sediment  than  elsewhere. 
The  variations  of  pressure  upon  the  pen  can  easily  be 
noticed  by  the  alternate  widening  and  narrowing  of  the 
band  between  these  two  furrows.  The  tracing  appears 
knotty  and  uneven  when  made  by  an  untrained  hand, 
while  it  appears  uniformly  thin,  and  generally  tremulous 
or  in  zigzags,  when  made  by  a  weak  but  trained  hand. 
(As  will  be  seen  further  on,  both  of  these  c'haracteristics 
appear  even  in  the  best  handwriting  under  high  magnifi- 
cation.) A  soft  and  broad-nibbed  pen  exhibits  the  same 
peculiarities,  with  the  difference  that  there  are  no  fine 
lines,  but  broad  and  broader  lines,  not  infrequently  in- 
terrupted by  blots,  and  obliterations  of  letters  by  the 
untrained  hand. 

The  depression  of  both  borders  of  a  pen-stroke  gives 
rise  to  the  appearance  of  convexity  in  the  line  which  is 
observed  under  the  microscope  and  in  photomicrographs 
of  lines.  This  furnishes  another  means  of  discriminating 
between  genuine  and  spurious  writing;  but,  owing  to 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  49 

the  fact  that  the  differences  in  depth  of  the  furrows  are 
very  slight,  even  with  notable  differences  of  pressure,  it 
is  not  a  guide  upon  which  the  investigator  can  always 
rely.  Still,  within  certain  limitations  it  is  an  important 
object  to  study,  and  may  give  indications  of  value  to  cor- 
roborate or  refute  the  hypotheses  based  upon  other  lines 
of  study. 

Stylographic  Pens. — As  was  remarked  before,  the 
introduction  of  the  stylographic  pen  has  changed  the 
character  of  the  letters  when  viewed  under  the  micro- 
scope, and  in  the  future,  when  instruments  executed 
by  this  writing  tool  shall  come  under  examination,  some 
of  the  clues  which  were  useful  in  the  metal-pen  era  will 
disappear. 

The  stylus,  or  light  metal  wire,  which  acts  as  a  plug 
to  restrain  the  flow  of  ink  when  the  pen  is  not  in  actual 
use,  is  kept  down  either  by  a  very  small  weight,  as  in 
the  Mackinnon  pen,  or  by  a  fine  spring,  as  in  the  ordi- 
nary stylograph.  The  amount  of  pressure  necessary  to 
press  this  needle  back  is  so  slight  that  the  weakest  hand 
is  capable  of  accomplishing  it,  and  as  there  is  practically 
no  furrow  observable,  and  the  ink  flows  over  all  sides 
of  the  stylus  to  the  paper,  the  effect  is  of  writing  with  a 
very  fine  camel's-hair  pencil.  Furrows  and  convexity  are 
replaced  by  concavity,  and  shading  in  the  line  disappears. 
Even  the  effects  of  tremor  are  not  so  easily  discernible, 
when  visible  at  all,  whether  heavy  or  light  pressure  be 
employed,  because  the  point  of  the  cone  smears  away 
all   minor  deviations.      The   arrest  of  the  pen  on  the 

4 


50  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

paper  does  not  produce  a  notably  heavier  deposit  of 
ink,  because  the  friction  on  all  sides  of  the  annular  space 
in  the  nozzle  is  sufficient  to  stop  the  flow  until  the  pen 
is  again  put  in  motion  (provided  that  the  latter  be  in 
good  order). 


CHAPTER    V. 

PRELIMINARY    EXAMINATION. 

Care  of  the  Document. — At  the  very  outset  of  an 
examination,  the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  to  guard 
the  document  which  is  to  be  its  subject  from  handling 
and  soiling,  and  especially  to  protect  it  from  finger  and 
other  marks  on  the  written  characters.  A  suspected 
document  is  generally  not  in  first-class  condition  when 
it  comes  to  the  expert,  because  expectant  litigants  who 
have  scanned  it,  and  it  must  be  said,  also  some  learned 
attorneys  who  ought  to  know  better,  are  singularly  care- 
less about  their  treatment  of  an  object  upon  \vhich  the 
fate  of  the  litigation  may  turn.  It  is  not  unusual  to  find 
on  the  pages  of  contested  papers  foreign  pen-marks  (!) 
which  could  be  traced  to  the  careless  handling  by  attor- 
neys or  their  clerks  of  pens  moistened  with  ink. 

Usually  it  is  the  litigant  who  suspects  that  there  is 
something  fraudulent  in  the  document,  and  by  way  of 
satisfying  himself  on  the  subject  thumbs  it  or  pricks  it 
with  pins,  with  as  little  regard  for  the  consequences  as 
if  the  delicate  points   to   be  investigated  could   not   be 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  51 

obscured.  If  it  be  the  counsel  who  first  decides  to 
subject  the  document  to  expert  examination,  it  may  fare 
little  better.  It  would  seem  that  a  specific  amount  of 
rough  handling  and  of  extraneous  matter  deposited  must 
pave  the  way  to  the  conviction  that  the  paper  should 
be  an  object  of  scrutiny.  As  if  the  thumbing  and  pull- 
ing were  not  enough,  it  is  usual  for  the  keeper  of  the 
document  to  fold  and  refold  the  paper  each  time  it 
is  taken  from  its  repository. 

It  is  very  strange  that  gentlemen  who,  more  than  all 
others,  should  know  the  value  of  keeping  documents  in 
their  original  state,  and  whose  daily  experience  teaches 
them  that  continually  refolding  a  paper  tends  to  wear, 
tear,  and  destroy  it,  should  persist  in  this  practice.  A 
document  which  bears  upon  it  the  evidence  which  may 
convict  a  malefactor  of  forgery,  or  which  may  decide  the 
ownership  of  a  fortune,  should  be  carefully  and  tenderly 
handled.  It  should  be  laid  between  sheets  of  clean 
white  paper  without  folding,  unless  its  size  be  so  great 
as  to  render  this  very  difficult,  in  which  case  it  should 
be  folded  but  once,  and,  if  possible,  in  other  than  the  , 
original  lines,  and  invariably  so  that  the  folds  do  not 
cross  any  important  part  of  the  paper.  It  is  usually 
practicable  to  fold  the  document  without  crossing  any 
lines ;  but  when  this  is  not  the  case,  those  parts  of  the 
instrument  should  be  chosen  which  are  least  material  to 
the  investigation,  no  matter  w^hat  sort  of  a  form  this 
leaves  it  in.  In  most  cases  the  document  can  easily  be 
laid  out  flat,  covered  with  two  pieces  of  clean  writing- 


52  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

or  wrapping-paper,  and  carried  in  a  large  envelope  or 
portfolio.  It  is  much  better  even  to  roll  it  lightly  in 
its  covering  papers  than  to  fold  it  after  it  has  once  been 
taken  up  for  study. 

Least  of  all  should  any  object  capable  of  imparting  a 
color  to  the  paper  be  brought  near  the  part  or  parts  of 
the  document  about  which  suspicion  exists.  In  the 
interest  of  justice  this  should  be  as  sacredly  guarded 
as  a  ballot-box,  for  upon  the  testimony  which  it  gives 
important  questions  may  depend. 

When  the  microscope  is  to  be  used  to  examine  parts 
of  the  writing,  it  is  sometimes  necessary  to  fold  the 
document  in  order  to  bring  the  part  to  be  scrutinized 
under  the  lens  without  interference  from  the  stand  of 
the  microscope,  which  will  usually  afford  a  space  of 
seven  or  eight  centimeters  between  the  brass  upright  and 
the  axis  of  the  lens.^ 

In  this  case  it  is  better  to  make  new  folds,  and  to 
steady  the  document  on  a  plate  of  clean  glass  or  metal 
of  about  five  centimeters  on  a  side,  for  it  is  usually  con- 
venient to  remove  the  ordinary  table  for  microscope- 
slides. 

A   photograph,  if  possible  of  natural    scale,    should 

^  The  necessity  for  this  has  been  obviated  for  powers  up  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  diameters  by  a  simple  and  convenient  contrivance 
of  Mr.  Hagan,  whereby  a  stand  without  stage  carries  the  micro- 
scope. The  document  is  laid  flat  on  the  table  and  covered  by  a 
sheet  of  plate  glass  on  which  the  instrument  slides  on  cork  shoes 
to  prevent  scratching. 


AND   DETECTION   OF   FORGERY.  53 

always  be  taken  before  the  investigation  begins,  either 
of  the  whole  or  of  the  important  part  of  the  document, 
and  none  but  chemists,  experienced  in  testing  important 
papers,  should  be  permitted  to  apply  reagents  to  them. 

First  Scrutiny. — It  is  a  very  useful  preliminary  to 
any  physical  investigation  to  look  at  the  document  care- 
fully, reading  its  lines,  and  thus  familiarizing  one's  self 
with  the  style  of  expression,  as  well  as  the  character  of 
the  writing  expressed  in  the  letters,  the  groups  of  letters, 
the  spaces  between  words,  and  the  placing  of  sentences. 
By  domg  this,  and  without  any  conscious  effort,  a  cer- 
tain general  effect  due  to  the  writer's  habit  in  dealing 
with  these  elements  of  individuality  will  become  im- 
/•^^  pressed  upon  the  observer.  It  is  in  this  way  that  con- 
noisseurs judge  of  the  authorship  of  paintings  or  statues, 
land  are  enabled  to  distinguish  copies  and  even  replicas 
Trom  originals. 

In  every  case  the  investigator  should  endeavor  to 
imagine  himself  in  the  position  of  the  bona  fide  writer 
whose  supposed  work  he  is  studying,  and  to  reproduce 
his  impressions,  such  as  that  of  not  having  space  enough 
to  finish  a  word  which  has  caused  the  original  writer  to 
crowd  his  letters  together  unnaturally,  etc.,  etc. ;  in  short, 
to  confront  himself  with  the  problem  (whatever  it  be) 
which  the  face  of  the  document  pretends  the  writer  has 
solved  by  the  means  which  have  aroused  suspicion,  such 
as  the  alteration  of  a  figure,  the  interpolation  of  a  word, 
or  complete  interlineation,  etc. 

When  sufficient  time  has  been  taken  to  get  all  the 


54  STUDY    OF   HANDWRITING 

light  to  be  derived  after  attaining  this   frame  of  mind, 
the  next  step  can  be  taken. 

Scanning-  by  Transmitted  Light.^ — It  is  never  amiss 
to  look  at  the  document  placed  between  the  ob- 
server and  a  strong  daylight, — not  often  direct  sunlight. 
A  northern  exposure  is  a  very  favorable  light  in  this  hemi- 
sphere for  these  studies  as  Avell  as  those  of  art.  Trans- 
mitted light  often  tells  tales  on  a  forger,  sometimes  re- 
vealing erasures  by  the  area  over  which  a  stronger 
light  reaches  the  eye ;  sometimes  by  a  water-mark 
which  is  inconsistent  with  the  supposed  date  of  the 
paper. 

Sittl,  of  Munich,  an  expert  on  handwriting,  relates 
an  instance  of  a  document  bearing  the  date  of  1868, 
which  was  written  on  paper  with  a  water-mark  rep- 
resenting the  eagle  of  the  German  empire,  which,  as 
all  the  world  knows,  was  not  employed  until  after  the 
French  war,  in  1870. 

Remains  of  Tracings. — It  sometimes  occurs  that  the 
forger,  fearful  that  his  attempt  to  imitate  another's 
writing  would  be  too  easily  detected  if  made  with  a  free 
hand,  sketches  in  pencil  the  characters  he  intends  to 
make  in  ink  on  the  document,  or  traces  them  by  means 


1  For  this  purpose,  as  well  as  for  tracing,  the  writer  has  found  it 
convenient  to  use  a  box,  of  which  the  top  is  made  of  a  sheet  of 
glass,  and  the  lower  half  of  one  side  is  open  to  admit  sunlight  upon 
a  mirror  inclined  to  45°,  which  throws  the  rays  directly  upward 
and  through  the  paper  to  be  examined. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  55 

of  blackened  paper  at  the  appropriate  place,^  The  evi- 
dences of  this  are  very  likely  to  appear  when  the  docu- 
ment is  examined  in  transmitted  light. 

General  Style  of  the  Document  as  a  Whole. — 
When  an  entire  document  or  page  is  forged,  tlie  orna- 
mentation, flourishes,  or  capitals  at  its  head  will  often 
be  seen  to  be  out  of  keeping,  either  with  its  nature  or 
with  the  supposed  author's  habits  in  similar  cases.  As 
observed  by  Mr.  Sittl,  in  a  writing  all  must  agree :  place, 
day,  year,  handwriting,  superscription  or  heading,  signa- 
ture, and  material  carrying  the  writing,  especially  paper, 
both  as  to  constitution  and  color,  and  ink." 

Other  observations  indicated  above  having  been  made, 
the  free  or  cramped  character  of  a  signature  or  a  word 
is  often  of  importance  in  the  preliminary  examination 
about  to  be  described.  It  happens  not  infrequently  that 
the  desire  to  get  a  given  number  of  words  into  a  definite 
space  leads  to  an  entirely  unusual  and  foreign  style  of 
writing,  in  which  the  accustomed  characteristics  are  so 
obscured  or  changed  that  only  the  systematic  analysis  to 
be  detailed  farther  on  can  detect  them.  If  there  be  no 
apparent  reason  for  this  appearance  in  lack  of  space,  the 

^  In  one  case  which  occurred  in  the  writer's  experience  a  clerk 
possessed  himself  of  a  rubl^er  autograph  stamp  of  the  person  whose 
name  he  forged,  and  produced  a  light  facsimile  of  the  writing  on 
the  paper  by  means  of  carbon  paper. 

*  lUustrirtes  Lexikon  der  Verfalschungen,  etc.  .  .  .  Herausge- 
geben  von  Dr.  Otto  Dammer,  Leipzig.  J.  J.  Weber,  1887.  Article 
' '  Handschriflen. ' ' 


56  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

cause  may  be  the  physical  state  of  the  writer  or  an 
attempt  at  simulation.  If  a  sufficient  number  of  genu- 
ine signatures  are  available,  it  can  generally  be  deter- 
mined which  of  these  two  explanations  is  the  right 
one. 

Selection  of  a  Method  of  Procedure. — A  basis  can 
usually  be  laid  for  the  choice  of  a  line  of  investigation 
by  a  careful  study  of  the  writing  or  writings  by  the 
unaided  eye.  It  is  to  the  unaided  eye  that  these 
writings  have  been  addressed,  and  to  the  unaided  eye 
they  tell  their  story,  either  simple  and  straightforward, 
or  hesitating  and  suspicious,  or  labored  and  doubtful. 
The  latter  class  of  cases  presents  the  greatest  difficulties, 
for  it  is  not  always  proof  of  spuriousness  that  the 
writing  has  been  painfully  and  slowly  produced.  There 
are  minds  so  easily  impressed  with  a  sense  of  responsi- 
bility, that  the  writing  or  signing  of  any  paper  important 
in  its  bearing  on  the  writer  or  his  property  will  cause 
him  to  disguise  his  hand  to  some  extent  involuntarily,  as 
many  persons  disguise  their  features  involuntarily  when 
being  photographed.  It  is  not  at  all  easy  to  distinguish 
by  the  naked  eye  alone  between  this  form  of  disguise 
and  a  forgery,  but  it  will  generally  be  found  possible  to 
do  so  by  the  application  of  the  methods  described 
elsewhere. 

Nevertheless,  the  contemplation  of  the  writing  or 
writings  under  investigation  will  generally  result  in 
putting  one  in  possession  of  the  general  character  of 
the  hand,  and  will  aid  the  after-study  when  it  appears 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  57 

through  more  minute  analysis  what  causes  the  charac- 
teristic features. 

An  hour  may  usually  profitably  be  spent  in  merely 
scanning  each  letter  of  a  document,  and  the  writing  by 
lines,  paragraphs,  and  pages  before  a  closer  scrutiny. 
Gradually,  if  the  writing  be  genuine,  its  character  will 
begin  to  reveal  itself,  and  unconsciously  an  hypothesis 
as  to  the  physical  causes  of  the  irregularities  or  charac- 
teristics will  be  formed.  When  this  preliminary  glance 
is  concluded,  some  course  will  suggest  itself  for  the  next 
step.  If  it  be  a  question  of  the  genuineness  of  a  single 
signature,  and  thirty  or  forty  undisputed  signatures  (the 
more  the  better)  are  at  hand,  the  most  universally  ap- 
plicable method  to  employ  is  that  of  a  careful  measure- 
ment of  the  sizes,  distances  apart,  etc.,  of  the  letters  and 
of  their  angles.  This  will  be  made  the  subject  of  a 
separate  chapter. 

Choice  of  a  Magnifier. — Although  a  great  deal  can 
be  determined  in  a  general  way  by  close  observation 
with  the  naked  eye,  it  is  always  best  to  employ  some 
magnifying  power ;  usually  an  ordinary  hand  lens  or 
pocket  magnifier  will  suffice,  but  the  writer  has  found 
it  better  to  use  a  microscope  objective  of  low  power 
(four  or  five  diameters),  which  is  provided  with  an 
easily-slipping  sleeve,  terminating  in  a  diaphragm  which 
cuts  out  the  light  entering  the  outside  rim  of  the  lens. 
This  sleeve  may  be  pushed  out  for  one  or  two  centi- 
metres, and  the  particular  spot  under  examination  iso- 
lated from    the  adjacent  parts  without  undue  magnifi- 


58  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

cation.  It  is  one  of  the  popular  fallacies  that  a  high 
magnifying  power  is  desirable  in  all  cases  of  difficulty, 
but  the  reverse  is  usually  the  case  in  the  general  exami- 
nation of  handwriting. 

The  best  authorities  prescribe  a  magnifying  power  of 
not  more  than  ten  diameters  [Hager  and  Holdermann  : 
Untersuchungen)  for  ordinary  observations. 

Restricted  Use  of  Hig-her  Powers. — For  special  pur- 
poses higher  powers  are  often  useful,  but  it  is  seldom 
that  magnification  of  more  than  one  hundred  and  thirty 
diameters  is  required. 

An  ocular  examination  of  the  ink  in  the  various  parts 
of  a  written  instrument  will  generally  suggest  whether 
or  not  it  is  probably  the  same,  and  an  ordinary  magnify- 
ing glass  of  low  power  will  render  more  service  in  de- 
tecting the  predominant  color  than  high  powers  of  the 
compound  microscope. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE    SEQUENCE    IN    CROSSED    LINES.' 

Impor^nce  of  the  Determination. — It  often  becomes 
important  to  determine  which  of  two  crossed  ink  lines 
was  written  first.     Many  cases  of  forgery  depend  upon 

'  Chemical  methods  for  the  determination  of  sequence  in  crossed 
lines  will  be  found  in  the  part  of  this  book  dealing  with  chemical 
questions. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  59 

the  answer  to  this  question,  which  therefore  is  one  of 
more  than  ordinary  importance. 

As  a  rule,  when  the  underlying  line  has  been  drawn 
with  a  heavy  black  ink,  and  the  overlying  line  with  a 
lighter  one,  no  direct  observation  in  the  usual  way  will 
suffice  to  determine  their  sequence  with  certainty. 

Superposition. — Where  two  lines  cross,  and  the 
upper  and  lower  cannot  be  distinguished  by  perpen- 
dicular vision  in  the  microscope,  their  order  of  super- 
position may  occasionally  be  judged  by  the  traces  of 
flow  from  the  sides  of  the  later  stroke  in  both  directions 
from  the  pen  along  the  edges  of  the  line  previously  written ; 
and  sometimes  by  two  continuous  black  lines  corre- 
sponding to  the  paths  of  the  two  nibs  tracing  the  upper 
line.  These  appearances  are  often  observable  only  through 
the  microscope.  The  cause  of  the  first  may  be  the 
greater  capillary  attraction  of  the  particles  of  the  ink 
film  first  deposited  than  of  the  particles  of  the  clean  paper 
surface  for  the  particles  of  the  fluid  ink ;  and  of  the 
second  the  larger  quantities  of  ink  deposited  in  the 
deeper  furrows  of  the  most  recent  mark. 

Whether  or  not  these  be  the  principal  causes,  the 
fact  remains,  and  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  edges  of 
crossed  lines  at  their  point  of  contact  will'  often  reveal 
which  was  the  last  to  be  traced. 

As  has  been  already  mentioned,  another  phenomenon 
sometimes  observable  under  the  microscope,  which  may 
lead  to  the  same  result,  is  the  staining  or  coloring  of  the 
loose  fibres  overlying  the  first  line,  or  of  those  adjacent 


60  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

to  it,  which  may  have  escaped  being  colored  by  the  first 
ink  ;  or  the  dulhng  of  the  lustre  of  the  inferior  ink  if  the 
superior  be  less  lustrous ;  or  the  contrary  effect  in  the 
opposite  case. 

It  may  happen  that  in  retouching  a  written  document 
for  purposes  of  fraud  the  writing  fluid  last  used  is  indis- 
tinguishable from  the  first  in  color  and  lustre,  but  may 
differ  in  the  number  or  the  size  of  its  solid  suspended 
particles  or  in  some  other  characteristic. 

In  such  a  case  the  microscope  can  be  made  ef- 
fective in  determining  the  degree  of  uniformity  which 
appears  in  the  ink  lines.  However  skilfully  additions  to 
the  text  may  have  been  made  they  are  not  likely  to  elude 
this  test,  because  the  chances  are  very  great  against 
even  the  ink  from  a  given  bottle  remaining  constant  for 
any  considerable  time  in  all  the  characteristics  observable 
in  the  microscope. 

Ink  Lines  Transparent. — Ink  films  which  appear  to 
the  eye  as  black  opaque  lines  in  contrast  with  the  lighter 
substance  on  which  they  are  written  are  not  so  in  fact^ 
but,  on  the  contrary,  extremely  translucent  and  even 
transparent,  as  an  observation  of  an  ink  line  made  with 
a  pen  upon  a  piece  of  plain  glass  will  show.  Where  the 
line  is  fine,  as  in  ordinary  writing,  the  obstruction  which 
such  a  film  would  offer  to  seeing  objects  through  it  is 
much  smaller  than  is  generally  supposed. 

If  a  drop  of  the  heaviest  black  ink  be  placed  upon  a 
plain  glass  microscope-slide,  and  a  cover  glass  or  another 
slide  be  placed  over  it,  with  slight  pressure  the  film  will 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.       61 

become  as  thin  as  it  is  after  drying  on  ordinary  paper. 
It  will  impart  some  color  to  the  objects  viewed  through 
it,  but  it  will  not  entirely  obscure  even  very  light  lines  or 
points  on  paper  below  it.     (See  Plate  ITT.,  Fig.  7.) 

This  being  the  case,  we  should  regard  two  crossed 
lines  as  transparent  films  like  two  strips  of  lightly-col- 
ored glass  crossing  each  other.  The  light  which  falls 
at  the  point  of  intersection  penetrates  to  the  paper  be- 
low, and  is  reflected  to  the  eye,  twice  traversing  the  ink 
lines  and  emerging  with  a  loss  by  absorption  equal  to 
twice  their  combined  absorptive  power.  That  light 
which  strikes  but  one  of  the  lines  loses  in  its  double 
passage  through  the  film  only  so  much  of  its  rays  as 
that  one  ink  with  twice  the  thickness  in  which  it  appears 
is .  capable  of  absorbing.  Consequently  the  absorption 
at  the  point  of  intersection  of  the  limbs  of  the  cross  will 
be  greater  and  the  color  darker  than  on  either  of  the 
two  branches  which  make  the  cross.  Each  of  the  films 
is  usually  so  thin  that  it  is  impossible  to  observe  any 
stereoscopic  effect  when  the  direction  of  light  is  perpen- 
dicular to  the  plane  of  the  paper.  Tw^o  phenomena, 
however,  may  sometimes  be  observed  in  this  way,  which 
bear  upon  the  question  of  superposition. 

Widening  of  the  Upper  Line. — The  overlying  line 
is  likely  to  show  a  widening  w^hich  is  masked  at  the 
small  area  of  their  intersection  for  the  reason  just  given, 
— namely,  because  their  respective  effects  upon  light  over 
this  little  square  are  so  blended  that  they  cannot  be 
separately  distinguished  by  the  eye  ;  but  if  the  colors  or 


62  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

shades  are  sufficiently  different  to  enable  the  eye  to  dis- 
tinguish one  ink  from  the  other  (as  is  likely  to  be  the 
case  if  any  considerable  period  of  time  have  elapsed 
between  the  tracing  of  the  two  lines),  the  line  of  the 
upper  ink  will  often  be  seen  to  broaden  just  before  it 
traverses  the  lower,  and  to  narrow  on  leaving  it.  See 
Plate  I.,  Fig.  1,  which  is  a  photograph  of  a  cross  made 
with  red  ink  and  magnified  twenty-four  diameters.  The 
line  c  d  was  drawn  over  a  b  while  the  latter  was  wet. 
Observe  the  broadening  of  the  descending  line  cd  ai  the 
first  and  its  narrowing  at  the  last  contact  with  a  b.  If 
the  two  fluids  are  indistinguishable  in  color,  lustre,  or 
shade,  etc.,  this  method  will  fail,  unless  some  conclusion 
can  be  drawn  as  to  the  line  to  which  the  broadened  and 
again  narrowed  parts  belong.  The  broadening  effect 
due  to  capillarity  will  be  greater  when  the  lower  line  is 
still  wet  than  when  it  is  dry. 

Plate  I.,  Fig.  2,  represents  a  twelvefold  linear  enlarge- 
ment of  a  part  of  a  letter  in  a  signature.  The  straight 
line  passes  over  the  curved  line.  The  broadening  of  the 
straight  upper  line  as  it  crosses  the  curved  line  from  left 
to  right,  and  its  narrowing  on  leaving  it,  are  perhaps 
due  to  the  passage  of  the  ink  line  into  and  out  of  the 
sphere  of  capillary  attraction  of  the  still  moist  underlying 
line.  Plate  I.,  Fig.  3,  represents  the  same  object  mag- 
nified thirty-five  diameters. 

Staining  of  Straggling  Fibres, — The  other  obser- 
vation also  applies  to  those  cases  where  there  is  a  visible 
difference  in  the  appearance  of  the  two  inks  which  causes 


PLATE    I. 
Fig.  1. 


Cross  in  red  ink,  magnified  twenty-four  diameters. 
Fig.  2. 


CiGssiu  a  signauiic,  maguiftcd  tweUc  diameters. 
Fig.  3. 


Cross  of  same  signature,  magnified  thirty-iivf  dianutiis 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  63 

the  overlying  ink  to  impart  its  color,  or  lustre,  or  other 
appreciable  peculiarity  to  the  lower  ink  at  their  place  of 
crossing. 

Often  when  a  more  glossy  ink  underlies,  this  appear- 
ance will  be  nothing  more  than  a  slight  dulling  of  the 
lustre  ;  or  if  the  overlying  ink  have  a  peculiar  color  a  few 
straggling  fibres  may  be  noticed  on  the  upper  surface  of 
the  place  of  junction  which  show  traces  of  this  color. 
If  there  be  no  such  differences  between  the  inks  this 
method  also  is  inapplicable. 

Method  by  Oblique  Vision. — A  third  method  em- 
ployed by  the  writer  has  been  more  successful.  It  is 
by  viewing  the  crossed  lines  obliquely. 

If  two  strips  of  differently-shaded  glass  be  crossed,  the 
edges  of  the  square  formed  by  their  junction  bound  with 
black  tape  (to  conceal  as  far  as  possible  which  strip  is  up- 
permost), and  the  whole  backed  by  white  paper  and  held 
several  feet  from  the  observer  in  a  strong  light  coming 
from  his  direction,  the  central  square  of  their  junction 
will  appear  darker  than  either  of  the  strips,  and  it  will  not 
be  easy  to  determine  which  of  the  two  is  uppermost.  If 
now  this  cross,  with  its  paper,  be  gradually  inclined  to 
the  horizon,  less  and  less  of  the  rays  which  strike  its  sur- 
face will  twice  traverse  both  plates  at  their  junction  before 
reaching  the  eye,  and  the  number  of  rays  which  pene- 
trate only  the  upper  strip  and  reach  the  eye  will  be  con- 
tinually greater  at  each  successive  degree  of  inclination. 

When  the  angle  is  such  that  a  large  majority  of  the 
rays  which  reach  the  eye  penetrate  only  the  upper  strip, 


64  STUDY  OF  HANDWEITING 

the  overlying  strip  at  the  point  of  intersection  wih  be  seen 
to  correspond  in  color  and  other  characteristics  with  two 
of  the  arms  of  the  cross,  and  to  differ  from  the  other 
two.  The  uppermost  strip  will  appear  to  be  (as  it  is  in 
reality)  a  continuous  line,  either  lighter  or  darker  than 
the  other,  from  the  extremity  of  one  arm  across  the 
intersection  to  the  opposite  extremity.  The  underlying 
strip  will  seem  to  be  cut  in  two,  and  its  peculiarities  of 

Fig.  6. 


color,  lustre,  structure,  etc.,  will  only  appear  in  the  two 
opposite  arms,  divided  by  a  small  area  at  the  inter- 
section with  the  other  line,  which  does  not  match  them. 
Applying  this  principle  to  the  crossing  of  lines  of  ink 
on  a  paper :  if  a  lens  of  small  magnifying  power  be  so 
placed  that  the  axis  of  vision  be  inclined  at  an  acute 
angle  to  the  plane  of  the  paper,  and  directed  to  the  point 
of  intersection  of  the  lines,  the  illumination  as  before 
being  oblique  ;  one  of  the  two,  whether  it  be  the  lighter 
or  the  darker,  will  be  seen  to  make  one  continuous 
limb  of  the  cross  alike  in  color  and  shade  from  end  to 
end.     This  is  the  upper  line. 


PLATE   II. 


Al 


A'  I 
Bl 


16 


A  2 


^ 


w  :2SP^  "■•^S''^ 


B2 


A,  Cross  made  with  the  darkest  and  lij;htest  (upiiernKist  i  of  commercial  inks. 
,  B.Cross  made  willi  the  same  inks,  the  (hvrkest  iiiijieiniost.  I'hme  of  each 
cross  perpendicular  to  axis  of  lens.     Mai^Miitication.  20  <iianicters. 

A  1,  Cross  of  litililest  and  (larkest  inks  phot<«raiihed  in  plane  oblique  to  axis 
of  lens.    The  li^litcst  ink  on  topaTid  perpeniiicnlar  to  axis. 

A 2,  Cross  of  H(,'litest  and  darkest  inks  ]iliot(ij;raphed  in  plane  oblique  to  axis 
f)f  lens.    The  !it,ditest  ink  on  top  and  in  vertical  iilaiie  inclndinp  axis. 

BI,  Cross  of  liKhlcst  and  darkest  inks  ])h(ilot,'-ra  plied  in  i)lane  oblique  to  axis 
of  lens.    The  darkest  ink  on  toj)  and  perpendicular  to  axis. 

B'2,  Cross  of  lightest  and  darkest  inks  i>hotoKraphed  in  plane  oblique  to  axis 
of  lens.    The  darkest  ink  on  top  and  in  vertical  plane  incdndinf:  axis. 

In  all  the  above  diagratns  the  darkest  ink  is  designated  by  3  when  upjier- 
most,  and  C  when  underneath  ;  the  liglitest  ink  by  16  when  uppermost,  and  by 
J{  when  underneath.    The  magnificatiou  is  four  diameters. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  65 

Plate  II.,  Figs.  A,  Al,  A2,  B,  Bl,  B2,  represent  photo- 
micrographs of  intersections  of  the  lightest  and  the 
darkest  of  commercial  inks.  The  darker  is  designated 
by  C  when  it  is  underneath  and  by  3  when  it  is  above  ; 
the  lighter  is  designated  by  R  when  it  is  underneath  and 
by  16  when  it  is  the  upper  line.  Each  is  given  once  in  an 
inferior  and  once  in  a  superior  position  viewed  perpen- 
dicularly, and  twice  in  each  situation  viewed  obliquely. 
The  deeper  color  of  the  darker  ink  makes  it  appear  to 
be  the  superior  line  in  both  cases  when  the  axis  of  the 
photographic  instrument  is  perpendicular  to  the  plane 
of  the  paper.  But  when  these  same  slides  are  photo- 
graphed with  the  axis  of  the  instrument  oblique  to  the 
plane  of  the  paper,  the  true  order  of  superposition 
becomes  apparent  to  the  eye  in  the  print.  See  Al,  A2, 
Bl,  B2.  The  No.  16  ink,  although  jnuch  lighter  in  color 
than  the  other,  is  distinctly  seen  to  pass  continuously 
across  the  darker  ink  in  an  uninterrupted  line  in  Al 
and  A2. 

It  will  be  understood  by  those  familiar  with  micro- 
scope photography  that  if  the  plane  of  an  object  be  ever 
so  slightly  oblique  to  the  axis  of  the  instrument,  only  a 
very  minute  area  adjoining  the  axis  of  rotation  will  be 
approximately  in  focus,  and  in  all  positions,  except  where 
the  plane  of  the  slide  is  perpendicular  to  the  axis  of  the 
microscope  objective,  the  front  and  rear  portions  of  this 
plane  will  be  out  of  focus. 

This  gives  to  the  ink  line  perpendicular  to  the  axis  of 
rotation  less  intensity  ,|han  it  really  has,  and  might  lead 


66  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

some  persons  to  suppose  that,  owing  to  this  fact  alone, 
the  hghter  ink  maintains  its  character  across  the  darker. 
It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  portion  of 
the  darker  line  which  is  crossed  by  the  lighter  is  equally 
with  the  latter  in  focus.  This  area  of  crossing  is  not  a 
mathematical  point,  but  a  space  of  sensible  magnitude 
rendered  easily  visible  by  the  magnification  employed. 
If  the  darker  line  were  really  superposed,  therefore,  it 
would  appear  to  be  the  darker  in  all  positions  and 
under  any  illumination,  as  can  be  seen  in  Figs.  Bl  and 
B2. 

Figs.  A2  and  Bl  are  represented  in  order  to  show  that 
the  appearance  is  the  same  when  the  underlying  line  is 
made  to  coincide  with  the  axis  of  rotation  of  the  slide. 
In  Fig.  A2  the  same  slide  was  photographed  as  in  Al, 
but  the  overlying  ink,  16^  instead  of  crossing  the  field  from 
left  to  right  runs  from  top  to  bottom ;  yet  although  by 
this  position  the  extremities  of  this  line  are  out  of  focus, 
it  is  clearly  seen  to  overlie  the  line  C. 

In  the  figure  B2  the  overlying  ink.  No.  3,  is  as  dis- 
tinctly above  the  line  R  while*  in  a  horizontal  position 
as  it  is  in  Bl  while  in  a  position  perpendicular  to  the 
first. 

A2  and  B2  were  prepared  to  meet  a  possible  objection 
that  either  ink  may  be  made  to  appear  the  upper  or  the 
lower  in  a  phototype  reproduction  according  to  the  man- 
ner of  its  presentation.  This  is  true  of  the  lighter  of 
the  two  inks,  but  not  of  the  darker.  No  change  in  the 
conditions  of  making  the  picture^  could  make  ink  No.  3 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  67 

appear  to  be  the  lower  in  the  three  figures  B,  Bl,  and 
B2.^ 

The  phenomenon  is  much  easier  to  observe  in  the 
microscope  than  to  represent  in  a  photograph  or  a  photo- 
type print  made  from  one,  for  the  reason  that  the  "  glare" 
or  lustre  from  the  surface  of  the  paper  interferes  with 
the  definition  of  the  ink  lines. 

For  ordinar}^  purposes  the  compound  microscope, 
consisting  of  an  eye-piece  as  well  as  an  objective  lens,  is 
not  necessarj%  and  the  test  is  more  easily  made  with  such 
a  long  focus  and  low  power  objective  as  was  alluded  to 
on  a  previous  page. 

If,  for  instance,  a  one-and-a-half-inch  objective  with  a 
tubular  diaphragm  be  laid  almost  parallel  with  the  paper, 
and  the  latter  held  towards  a  good  but  not  too  strong 
sky-light,  the  actual  succession  of  two  crossed  lines  will 
be  observable  with  greater  facility  than  in  a  compound 
microscope. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

HESITATION     AND     TREMOR      OF     FEEBLENESS,     ILLITERACY,     OR 

FRAUD. 

Labored  Writing. — It  is  not  always  an  evidence  of 
fraudulent  intent  that  the  wTiting  shows  evidences  of 
slow  and  labored  motion  of  the  pen,  but  in  connection 
with  other  facts  this  becomes  an  important  point  to  ob- 

'  See  Appendix,  p.  249. 


68  STUDY  OF   HANDWRITING 

serve.  It  has  been  stated  under  the  head  of  general 
observations  of  a  writing  that  tlie  hesitation  and  tremor, 
as  shown  by  an  ilhterate  person,  by  a  feeble  person  or 
one  under  some  condition  of  mental  aberration,  and  by  a 
well-skilled  penman  anxious  to  deceive,  are  all  different. 
The  pen-strokes  of  the  illiterate  person  are  strong 
enough,  but  uneven  and  erratic.  No  strokes  nor  parts  of 
strokes  are  symmetrical.  The  handwriting. is  unformed 
and  child-like,  but  not  lacking  in  vigor.  The  pauses  are 
made  because  of  the  inability  of  the  writer  to  continue  a 
line  to  its  required  length  by  a  proper  accommodation  of 
the  muscles,  or  to  avoid  an  accidental  obstacle,  such  as 
a  grain  of  hard  pulp  or  a  crease  in  the  paper,  without 
making  the  pen  sputter,  or  taking  a  new  position  with  the 
hand.  The  attempt  to  imitate  a  copy  or  ideal  in  tracing 
a  word  or  signature  is  similar  to  an  attempt  by  the  same 
hand  to  copy  a  landscape  or  to  improvise  one.  Undue 
force  is  usually  apparent  everywhere,  except  on  the  hair- 
lines, where  the  attempt  to  be  gentle  necessitates  draw- 
ing them  slowly,  and  therefore  in  uncertain  wavy  lines. 
Parts  of  letters  are  drawn  out  of  shape,  and  other  parts 
written  over  them,  as  if  the  writer  had  memorized  a  cer- 
tain number  of  strokes  which  it  was  necessary  to  make, 
and  made  them  consecutively  without  regard  to  where 
his  pen  might  be  at  the  time  he  began  each.  In  this 
respect  it  resembles  the  writing  in  the  dark  of  a  man 
whose  faculties  are  dulled  by  fatigue  or  drugs. 

Feebleness. — The  signature  or  other  writing  of  a  not 
inexperienced  penman,  who  is  ill  or  feeble,  is  character- 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  69 

ized  by  a  general  lightness  of  stroke  and  much  tremu- 
lousness.  If  any  parts  of  the  Imes  are  heavy,  these 
parts  are  short,  and  not  infrequently  terminate  with  a 
perforation  of  the  paper. 

The  pressure  of  the  fingers  is  light,  and  when  it  is 
attempted  to  make  parts  of  the  writing  heavier,  too  much 
weight  is  laid  upon  the  pen  without  the  ability  to  accu- 
rately gauge  the  amount  of  the  added  pressure,  with  the 
frequent  result  of  puncturing  of  the  paper.  No  line 
of  any  considerable  length  is  free    from  the  wavy  evi- 

FiG.  7. 


Tremor  of  Feebleness. 

dances  of  tremor,  yet  there  is  a  distinct  resemblance  to 
the  same  word  written  in  a  state  of  health. 

In  the  example  given  of  the  tremor  due  to  feebleness 
(the  word  "  Philada'')  it  is  clearly  manifest  not  only  that 
the  idea  of  form  which  the  writer  had  in  Ms  mind  was 
excellent,  but  that  in  the  main  it  was  well  carried  out. 
The  mean  of  all  the  divergences  and  waved  lines  makes 
a  well-formed  and  symmetrical  word.  It  must  be  con- 
fessed that  the  persistence  in  flourishes  which  bring 
into  prominence  the  writer's  weakness,  and  the  correct 
general  direction  in  forming  the  letters,  are  unusual,  but 
the  same  features  may  be  observed  in  lesser  degree  in 
any  writing  of  a  good  penman  which  is  tremulous  on 
account  of  his  feebleness. 


70  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

All  the  points  noted  as  characteristic  of  this  kind  of 
imperfect  writing  are  strongly  accentuated  in  this  exam- 
ple.    The  writer  was  a  gentleman  of  over  ninety  years. 

Illiteracy. — In  the  case  just  mentioned  there  is  a 
manifest  attempt  to  reproduce  a  reasonable  ideal  which 
is  partially  successful,  whereas  in  the  illiterate  signature 
the  attempt  seems  to  be  to  repeat  a  certain  number  of 
up-and-down  strokes  and  their  connecting  strokes  with- 
out considering  what  they  were  intended  to  produce  as 
a  whole.  An  identification  of  the  signature  of  a  very 
illiterate  person  becomes  almost  purely  an  identifica- 
tion of  separate  lines  or  letters,  from  the  absence  of  any 
model  of  the  signature  as  a  whole  in  the  writer's  mind. 

The  example  of  the  tremor  due  to  illiteracy  is  given 
in  the  word  "  Pennsylvania."  It  was  obtained  from  an 
ignorant  carter,  who,  however,  was  not  illiterate  enough 
to  produce  so  good  a  type  as  the  preceding.  The 
tremors  and  angular  features  observable  are  by  no 
means  indicative  of  lack  of  power,  but  the  power  is 
misdirected.      After  getting  so  far  as  the  name  of  the 

Fig.  8. 
Tremor  of  Illiteracy. 

great  founder  of  the  Commonwealth,  the  real  difficulties 
begin,  and  in  the  struggle  to  master  them  the  combat  is 
transferred  far  from  the  guide-line  of  the  paper.  The 
last  three  syllables  are  little  else  than  a  repetition  of  the 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  71 ' 

prescribed  number  of  strokes  up  and  ctown,  but  the 
second  part  of  the  "  n"  has  been  carried  over  to  the  "  i" 
and  has  made  an  "  n"  of  that  letter,  so  that  the  word 
appears  to  be  "  Pennsylzoina.'* 

It  is  instructive  to  compare  these  two  examples  of 
tremor  with  each  other. 

Fraudv — The  simulated  tremor  of  a  skilful  penman 
is  rarely  successful  in  deceiving  a  trained  eye  aided  by  a 
moderate  magnification  of  the  writing. 

The  tendency  to  produce  symmetrical  tracings  and 
natural  curves  is  a  second  nature  which  cannot  read- 
ily be  overcome.  Under  the  microscope,  the  rhythmic 
lapses  from  easy  to  perturbed  writing  and  back  again 
remind  one  of  the  imitation  of  a  drunken  man  in  ama- 
teur theatricals.  The  things  which  are  really  difficult  for 
an  illiterate  or  feeble  person  to  do,  such  as  the  proper 
union  of  the  small  letters,  are  performed  usually  with 
address,  as  if  the  writer  were  in  a  hurry  to  commence 
acting  his  part  in  the  next  following  letter.  The  dash  (if 
there  be  one)  will  assume  a  graceful  curve.  The  dot 
will  appear  in  the  place  where  the  forger  is  accustomed 
to  write  it,  or  if  both  of  these  be  carefully  imitated  there 
is  sure  to  be  some  betrayal  in  the  crossing  of  the  "  t's," 
the  shading  of  some  of  the  letters,  the  preservation  of  a 
straight  line  for  the  base"  line,  or  in  some  other  part  of 
the  writing. 

The  signature  of  Isaac  Taylor,  represented  on  page  72, 
will  serve  as  an  illustration  of  the  tremor  almost  insepa- 
rable from  forgery. 


72  STUDY   OF   HANDWRITING 

A  comparison  of  this  signature  and  those  of  George 
W.  Hawley  and  Enos  V.  Garrett  (Fig.  11),  with  the  com- 
posites of  the  names  they  were  intended  to  simulate 
(Plate  XIIL),  will  illustrate  the  fundamental  differences 

Fig.  9. 

Tremor  of  Fraud. 

of  their  characters  and  also  the  difficulty  experienced  by 
a  good  penman  in  feigning  to  be  a  bad  one.  The  real 
signature  of  Isaac  Taylor  is  not  only  tremulous  from  age, 
but  is  angular,  unsymmetrical,  and  lacking  in  proper 
curves  or  proper  straight  lines.  The  above  forged  sig- 
nature, on  the  contrary,  is  full  of  evidences  that  the  hand 
which  traced  it  was  accustomed  to  make  both  with  un- 
usual skill.  Observe,  for  instance,  the  general  accuracy 
of  the  slope  of  the  down  stroke  in  the  initial  T,  /,  and 
first  part  of  the  y. 

In  these  and  similar  instances  used  in  the  book  as 
illustrations,  for  special  reasons  the  tables  of  measure- 
ments to  be  explained  later  have  not  been  printed.  It 
will  be  apparent  that  such  tables  would  show  the  same 
discrepancies  which  have  been  fully  set  forth  in  these 
pages  where  the  names  have  not  been  given.  One  pur- 
pose of  these  illustrations  is  to  show  that  the  method 
of  study  by  composite  photography  is  valuable  in  getting 
at  essential  character  and  in  detecting  fraud. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  73 

The  tremors  of  a  simulating  hand  are  rarely  so  nu- 
merous or  so  fine  as  real  tremors. 

Observations  will  be  referred  to  farther  on  which 
demonstrate  that  in  a  single  long  stroke,  like  that  of  an 
"/"  or  an  "  ^,"  there  are  usually  many  right  and  left 
deviations  from  the  straight  line  which  the  ordinary  pen- 
man in  a  normal  state  of  health  attempts  to  trace ;  and 
while  it  is  not  possible  that  these  should  exactly  overlap 
in  any  two  signatures,  nor  probable  that  they  are  in- 
variably identical  in  number,  yet  in  both  respects  two 
such  lines  by  the  same  hand  are  apt  to  resemble  each 
other  more  closely  than  any  such  line  by  another  hand 
will  resemble  either  of  them.  This  tremor  is  natural  to 
all  handwritings,  and  is  what  prevents  the  most  prac- 
tised hand  from  drawing  a  perfect  straight  or  curved 
line,  though  its  effects  are  not  easily  visible  except  by  the 
use  of  magnifiers.  The  faltering  due  to  age  or  feeble- 
ness is  greater  in  the  extent  of  the  excursions  of  the 
pen ;  but,  besides  these  deviations,  more  numerous  and 
finer  tremors  are  superposed  in  all  writings. 

So  fine  are  these,  indeed,  that  they  cannot  be  simulated, 
and  the  tremors,  even  were  it  possible  to  produce  them 
artificially,  would  not  resemble  those  they  were  intended 
to  imitate. 

This  being  so,  one  of  the  best  means  of  detecting  the 
fraudulent  character  of  a  writing  purporting  to  be  by  a 
feeble  person  is  the  comparison  of  the  tremors  of  both 
kinds  evidenced  in  his  genuine  writing  with  those  in  the 
suspected  imitation. 


74  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

Retouching. — The  repainting  or  retouching  of  a  letter 
or  part  of  a  letter  is  not  always  evidence  of  fraud. 
Many  persons  contract  the  bad  habit  of  going  over  what 
they  have  written  with  a  pen  to  correct  blemishes,  and 
this  habit  sometimes  becomes  so  pronounced  that  the 
writer  invariably  repaints  his  signature,  whether  it  show 
blemishes  or  not.  To  a  person  in  the  habit  of  retouch- 
ing his  own  writing  an  unconscious  skill  is  ultimately 
developed  which  enables  him  to  put  his  pen  more  nearly 
than  another  at  the  exact  point  required,  and  to  join 
two  disconnected  lines  with  an  accuracy  far  in  excess  of 
anything  else  of  the  same  kind  which  he  is  capable  of 
accomplishing.  It  is  not  rare  to  discover  the  habit  only 
after  a  minute  examination  of  numerous  specimens  of 
the  writing  under  considerable  magnification. 

No  hand  is  capable  of  tracing  a  line  of  any  great  length 
on  paper  without  leaving  abundant  traces  of  deviation 
from  its  projected  direction.  The  more  nervous  the 
hand  the  greater  and  more  numerous  will  be  these  de- 
viations. In  the  hand  of  one  suffering  from  illness  or 
weak  from  age  the  deviations  will  be  most  pronounced. 
To  a  less  degree  the  same  will  be  observed  in  a  hand 
which  is  striving  to  accomplish  something  difficult,  and 
to  avoid  betraying  itself  by  falling  into  some  pitfall. 
However  expert  the  writer,  if  the  copy  is  beset  with  little 
peculiarities,  the  tracing  will  be  slower  than  is  his  usual 
habit,  and  the  natural  and  unavoidable  divergence  from 
his  ideal  will  have  superadded  to  it  that  which  comes 
from  decreased  rapidity  of  execution.     Like  the  devia- 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  75 

tion  caused  bj'  tlie  wind  in  projectiles,  the  greater  ttie 
velocity  of  the  latter  the  less  will  be  the  effect  of  the 
perturbing  force. 

One  peculiarity  of  these  tremors  is  that  in  a  practised 
hand  they  are  not  easily  visible  except  under  considerable 
magnification.  With  a  power  of  fifty  or  sixty  diameters 
they  become  plain,  and  little  knots,  almost  unnoticeable 
before,  appear  in  the  writing,  which  may  be  partly  due 
to  the  continued  flow  of  ink  from  a  nibbed  pen  brought 
for  an  instant  to  a  full  stop  in  the  course  of  forming  a 
letter,  owing  to  some  feature  in  the  copy  which  requires 
a  new  adjustment  of  muscles  to  execute.  These  appear- 
ances will  be  more  fully  described  in  Chapter  X. 

The  natural  tremors  which  can  be  discovered  in  free- 
hand writing  are  surprisingly  numerous,  including  under 
that  name  all  changes  in  pressure  on  the  pen  as  well  as 
alterations  in  the  direction  of  its  movement.  Making  due 
allowance  for  the  irregularities  in  the  paper,  which  would 
show  variations  independent  of  the  muscular  action  of 
the  writer,  there  are  generally  one  or  two  of  the  grosser 
kind  in  every  centimeter  of  average  handwriting,  and 
often  many  more. 

The  author  has  observed  the  evidence  of  more  than 
twenty  impulses  superposed  upon  the  force  exerted  by  a 
writer  of  moderate  skill  in  tracing  the  single  stem  of  a  long 
"  jy  Consequently,  it  is  not  unreasonable  to  anticipate 
that  twice  that  many  may  be  found  in  the  writing  of  the 
sick  or  infirm.  In  fact,  the  number  of  these  deviations  is 
concealed  by  the  coarseness  of  the  tracing  in  which  they 


76  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

are  sought.  If  writing  were  produced  by  a  very  fine- 
pointed  stylus,  the  number  visible  would  probably  be  very 
much  increased. 

With  a  previous  knowledge  of  the  signature,  and  the 
peculiarities  which  a  forger  would  have  to  imitate,  it  is  of 
great  importance  to  note  where  the  hesitation  is  shown 
by  the  examination  under  the  microscope. 

If  it  occur  just  before  the  difficult  parts  are  attempted, 
it  will  probably  distinguish  false  writing  from  genuine, 
because  habit  will  have  caused  the  originator  of  these 
peculiarities  to  write  these  with  as  much  freedom  as  any 
other  part. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

TAPES    AND    SEALING-WAX. 

Use  of  Tapes. — Where  a  document  of  record  con- 
sists of  several  sheets  it  is  usual  to  attach  them  together 
by  a  tape  and  seal  with  the  purpose  of  preventing  the 
separate  sheets  from  being  detached  without  bearing 
evidence  of  the  fact.  It  has  happened  that  the  forgers 
have  not  been  able  to  replace  both  ends  of  the  original 
tape,  but  have  procured  a  new  piece  for  one  of  them. 
This  is  a  hazardous  proceeding,  because  it  is  ver}^  diffi- 
cult, if  not  impossible,  to  give  the  same  appearance  to  a 
piece  of  tape  by  artificial  means  which  another  piece  has 
attained  in  a  natural  way  by  age  and  ordinary  handling. 
Even  if  the  colors  can  be  made  to  agree  very  well  to 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  77 

the  eye,  the  structure  of  an  old  tape  is  sensibly  different 
from  a  new  one.  With  continuous  handling  or  rubbing 
against  other  papers,  with  the  minute  changes  which  are 
brought  about  by  the  absorption  of  moisture  and  subse- 
quent drying,  an  old  tape  shows  a  looseness  in  its  woven 
texture  very  different  from  the  compact  w^eb  of  a  piece 
of  tape  fresh  from  its  roll.  (See  photograph  of  tape  on 
the  Whitaker  will,  Plate  XII.)  The  interstices  between 
the  transverse  and  longitudinal  strands  of  a  tape  in  use 
become  enlarged  and  irregular,  and  it  is  not  unusual  to 
find  the  strands  arranged  in  threes  or  fours  together,  with 
larger  open  spaces  on  each  side  of  the  group.  It  is 
difficult  to  produce  this  effect  with  a  new  tape.  It 
seems  to  depend  upon  the  character  of  the  fibre  which 
forms  the  fabric,  the  number  of  changes  in  the  hygro- 
scopic condition  of  the  air  of  the  locality  where  it  is  kept, 
and  probably  on  other  causes  imperfectly  known  and  not 
yet  investigated. 

Kinds  of  Tape. — The  tapes  in  common  use  are  made 
of  linen  or  silk  (the  latter  being  called  "  taste'').  They 
are  usually  red. 

The  differences  between  these  are  apparent  under  the 
microscope,  where  the  fibres  of  these  substances  can 
easily  be  distinguished  from  one  another.^ 

Uniformity  of  the  Fibre. — It  is  important  in  cases 

^  For  a  difference  between  these  two  fibres,  see  the  plates  in 
Cross  and  Bevan's  work  on  the  manufacture  of  paper,  or  any  work 
on  the  textile  manufactures. 


78  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

where  the  tape  may  have  been  tampered  with  to  ascer- 
tain what  the  fibre  is.  It  is  not  likely  that  a  forger  will 
piece  out  a  missing  length  of  linen  tape  with  one  of  silk, 
but  all  parts  of  this  material  used  on  a  document  should 
be  scrutinized  to  ascertain  whether  the  material  be  uni- 
form or  nearly  so. 

If  the  material  is  practically  the  same  there  may  be 
differences  in  its  condition  due  to  usage. 

A  part  may  show  the  numerous  and  irregular  inter- 
spaces, while  another  part  shows  the  compact  structure 
of  a  newer  tape. 

Small  particles  of  sealing-wax  or  stains  of  ink  may 
suggest  tampering ;  or  the  holes  through  which  it  passes 
in  the  paper  may  have  been  enlarged  or  torn  by  its 
passage  and  repassage. 

Plate  III.,  Fig.  3,  represents  linen  tape  unstretched, 
Fig.  4  the  same  stretched ;  Fig.  5  represents  silk  "  taste" 
unstretched,  and  Fig.  6  stretched. 

Sealing'-wax. — The  three  kinds  of  sealing-wax  in  use 
in  this  country  are  the  American  express  wax,  usually 
brown,  and  inferior  in  quality  to  the  other  two,  and  two 
grades  of  red  sealing-wax. 

If  the  sealing  have  been  done  skilfully,  it  is  very  diffi- 
cult to  remove  and  replace  the  sealing-wax  without 
allowing  that  fact  to  become  apparent  on  close  inspec- 
tion. Remelting  is  liable  to  darken  the  color  of  the  wax, 
and  will  certainly  round  the  edges  left  by  the  impress  of 
the  hard  seal.  If  the  wax  take  fire,  it  is  partially  car- 
bonized on  top,  and  the  black  particles  mix  with  those  of 


PLATE   III. 


^r-' 


'^^^'' 


-a  ^ 


l^::>^^r: 


i^i-*'-'^-- 


1 ;  i  ,*• .  ,  i 


1  and  'i.-P-unctured  clioquo,  face  and  Lack.  The  arrow-hcads^n  -J  indicate 
the  punctures  over  which  the  "/"  has  passed. 

n  and  4.— Linen  tape  unused,  and  subjected  to  tension. 

5  and  C.  — Sillc  "  taste"  (tape)  unused,  and  subjected  to  tension. 

7._l)r„p  of  ink  on  glass,  showing  solid  particles.  Magnilication,  S.^i  di- 
ameters. 


AND  DETECTION   OF   FORGERY.  79 

the  part  which  has  been  softened,  and  testify  to  the  tam- 
pering. 

The  stamp  of  a  seal  on  a  sufficient  body  of  wax  pre- 
sents the  appearance  of  a  depressed  cup,  at  the  bottom 
of  which  the  design  of  the  die  is  reproduced  in  relief. 
The  sides  of  the  depression  are  precipitate  towards  the 
centre,  and  slope  gradually  from  all  points  of  the  ex- 
terior towards  the  level  of  the  paper.^ 

Rounding  of  Edges  by  remelting. — When  the  seal- 
ing-wax is  softened  or  remelted,  the  sharp  edges  of  the 
imprint  are  always  rounded,  and  if  the  softening  have 
been  over  a  large  part  of  the  wax,  the  design  is  distorted 
or  partially  effaced,  and  this  is  true  even  if  a  hot  blade 
have  passed  between  the  paper  and  the  lower  layer  of 
the  wax ;  the  heat  from  below  generally  serving  to 
round  off  and  destroy  the  sharpness  of  the  design. 

If,  as  often  happens,  the  seal  has  been  broken,  the 
very  existence  of  the  fracture  suggests  improper  treat- 
ment. When  the  wax  has  been  detached  from  the  tape 
and  remelted  to  reattach  it,  a  partial  burning  of  the  tape 
may  occur,  and  will  furnish  additional  evidence  of  tam- 
pering ;  and  the  same  is  true  as  to  the  underlying  paper. 

Skin-marks  on  the  Wax. — It  might  occur  (though 
the  chance  is  remote)  that  a  thumb  or  finger  had  been 
used  to  press  down  the  soft  wax  more  firmly  on  the 

'  For  information  in  regard  to  the  manufacture  and  characteristics 
of  sealing-waxes,  see  "  Die  Fabrikation  der  Siegel-  und  Flaschen- 
lacke  ;  von  Louis  Edgar  Andes,  Wien,  Pest,  Leipzig,  1885." 


80  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

paper.  If  an  imprint  of  the  skin  should  result,  it  might 
lead  not  only  to  proof  of  tampering,  but  the  conviction 
of  the  forger  through  the  means  suggested  by  Mr. 
Francis  Galton  in  his  book  on  fmger-prints.^  The  evi- 
dence adduced  by  Galton  and  Sir  William  Herschel, 
F.R.S.,  etc.,  seems  to  be  that  no  two  prints  of  the  cuticle 
which  covers  the  thumbs  or  fingers  of  different  in- 
dividuals are  ever  the  same,  and  also  that  the  "  whorls," 
curves,  and  figures  made  by  the  little  ridges  of  epi- 
dermis remain  curiously  constant  in  the  same  individual 
from  early  youth  to  advanced  age.  The  method  has 
been  used  with  success  to  identify'  American  Indians, 
Chinese,  East  Indians,  and  others  not  easily  distinguish- 
able from  their  countrymen,  and  in  the  lucky  contin- 
gency that  a  forger  identifies  himself  by  leaving  a  finger- 
print on  the  wax,  the  expert  should  be  prepared  to 
profit  by  it  in  the  interest^  of  justice. 


^  Finger-Prints,  by  Francis  Galton.  London  :  Macmillan  &  Co., 
and  New  York,  1892.  Also,  Decipherment  of  Blurred  Finger- 
prints, idem,  1893. 

^  A  committee  appointed  l)y  the  British  Home  Secretary,  Mr. 
Asquith,  to  inquire  into  the  best  means  for  identifying  criminals, 
has  reported  in  favor  of  supplementing  the  method  heretofore  em- 
ployed in  England  for  the  identification  of  criminals  by  others, 
taken  partly  from  M.  Bertillon's  system  and  partly  from  that  of  Mr. 
Galton,  of  recording  the  impression  of  finger-tips.  The  committee 
accepted  as  trustworthy  Mr.  Gallon's  conclusion  that  the  chance  of 
two  finger-prints  lieing  identical  is  less  than  one  in  sixty-four  thou- 
sand millions. — Daily  Press  Report,  April  10,  1894. 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  81 


CHAPTER    IX. 

DISCRIMINATION    BETWEEN    INKS    BY    VISUAL    TESTS. 

General  Appearance  of  Ink  Lines  under  the  Mi- 
croscope.— In  spite  of  the  theoretical  speculations  as 
to  what  a  perfect  ink  should  be,  it  usually  consists  of 
two  parts :  first,  a  staining  fluid ;  and,  secondly,  small 
particles  which  are  suspended  more  or  less  uniformly 
in  it. 

This  can  be  seen  by  examining  a  stroke  made  with  a 
very  black  ink  on  a  glass  slide  and  magnified  about 
thirty-five  diameters.  Here,  it  will  be  observed,  there  is 
a  film  which  absorbs  light,  through  which  are  scattered 
small  opaque  objects  adding  to  the  intensity  of  its  color, 
and  darkening  the  spots  where  they  lie.  (Plate  III., 
Fig.  7.)       • 

Some  of  these  black  spots  may  be  due  to  the  dust 
which  has  become  mingled  with  the  ink  by  reason  of 
its  exposure  to  the  air,  but  most  of  the  particles  are 
derived  from  precipitation  within  the  ink  itself.  The 
existence  of  these  two  sources  of  light  absorption,  the 
colored  fluid  and  the  dark  particles,  ofl'ers  an  explana- 
tion of  the  paler  border  surrounding  ink-marks  on  badly 
sized  or  unsized  paper.  The  reason  is  that  the  fibres 
of  the  paper  act  as  a  filter  and  prevent  the  solid  parti- 
cles from  penetrating,  while  they  allow  the  carrying-fluid 

6 


82  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

of  the  ink  to  pass.  The  fluid  spreads  by  capihary  ac- 
tion beyond  the  hne  traced  by  the  pen ;  consequently 
the  line  over  which  the  pen  has  passed,  having  both  the 
stain  and  the  free  solid  particles  deposited  upon  it,  is 
darker  than  the  border,  which  has  only  the  staining  fluid. 

It  is  not  so  easy  to  distinguish  the  number  of  the  solid 
suspended  particles  on  paper  as  on  glass,  because  the 
prominent  parts  of  the  fibre  stained  to  a  darker  color  by 
the  greater  quantity  of  ink  which  they  absorb  are  liable 
to  be  mistaken  for  the  solid  constituents  of  the  ink. 

Under  the  microscope  a  pen-mark  on  paper  exhibits 
most  prominently  the  fibre  of  the  paper,  which  becomes 
plainly  visible  as  an  irregular  network,  in  striking  con- 
trast with  the  adjacent  parts  of  the  paper  not  written  on, 
where  the  structure  is  not  so  apparent. 

In  all  the  figures  of  ink  lines  thus  far  shown  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  fibre  of  the  paper  becomes  prominent 
where  the  ink  has  stained  it,  and  is  not  so  noticeable 
elsewhere. 

Color. — The  first  notes  to  be  taken  in  an  examina- 
tion of  an  ink  under  the  microscope  concern  the  color : 
the  presence  in  quantity,  or  otherwise,  of  the  opaque 
particles  of  the  ink  ;  the  lustre  of  the  latter,  and  its 
change  (if  any)  in  various  conditions  of  illumination. 

It  has  previously  been  stated  that  it  is  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  judge  of  colors,  or  the  intensity  of  black  by  the 
naked  eye.  A  very  low  magnifying  power  will  suffice  to 
resolve  such  questions.  High  powers  are  needed  in  but 
few  lines  of  investigation  to  be  pursued  in  the  subject  we 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  83 

are  considering,  but  just  here  a  power  of  sixty  or  seventy 
diameters  is  useful  in  examining  the  physical  constitution 
of  inks. 

The  accidental  crumpling  of  a  document  does  not  pre- 
vent it  from  being  studied  under  a  power  of  sixty  diam- 
eters, while  the  minute  characters  of  the  dried  writing- 
fluid  appear  prominently,  and  will  furnish  a  means  of 
distinguishing  different  inks,  and  even  sometimes  be- 
tween marks  of  ink  from  the  same  bottle  at  different 
dates.  The  aniline  inks  or  those  in  which  aniline  is  a 
constituent  are  seldom  free  from  a  characteristic  metallic 
lustre,  unmistakable  when  one  has  often  seen  it. 

Dichroism. — ]\Iany  inks  possess  distinct  dichroism,  or 
two  distinct  colors,  when  illuminated  or  viewed  from 
different  positions.  Wherever  this  occurs  the  fact  should 
be  carefully  noted,  because  it  offers  a  means  of  discrimi- 
nating between  the  ink  possessing  this  property  and 
other  inks  with  more  or  less  the  same  character  and 
appearance  which  do  not. 

Old  Ink. — The  ink  in  really  very  old  writings  shows 
a  yellowish  tinge  around  the  letters  which  it  is  hard  to 
imitate.  An  examination  usually  shows  either  no  yellow 
border,  or,  if  there  be  one,  it  lacks  that  gradual  shading 
into  the  color  of  the  letters  which  is  one  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  really  old  writing  (Sittl). 

Changes  ■which  occur  in  the  Inkstand. — The  chance 
of  getting,  whether  out  of  the  same  inkstand  or  another, 
at  two  widely  separated  intervals  of  time,  a  writing- 
fluid  of  the    same    chemical    constitution    and  physical 


84  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

appearance  is  not  great.  Evaporation  and  constant 
contact  with  foreign  substances  may  alter  the  charac- 
ter of  an  ink  in  a  single  hour,  so  that  it  will  not  give 
the  same  reactions  in  the  same  degree  or  in  tlie  same 
time.  It  is,  therefore,  most  important  to  test  the  char- 
acter of  the  ink  in  the  main  body  of  a  writing,  and  in 
any  interpolations,  or  places  where  changes  in  the  letters 
have  been  made.  The  manner  of  making  such  tests  will 
be  taken  up  subsequently. 

But  if  there  be  chemical  tests  which  will  accomplish 
this  end,  a  close  inspection  by  means  of  the  microscope 
will  usually  divulge  physical  differences  in  constitution, 
color,  lustre,  etc.,  which  are  almost  equally  important; 
and  besides  this,  under  moderate  magnifying  power,  the 
junction  of  the  two  parts — the  original  writing  and  the 
added  marks — is  not  difficult  to  find,  and  will  appear 
unlike  the  ordinary  formation  of  the  character  by  the 
writer. 

Tests  by  Light  Effects. — It  has  been  incidentally 
mentioned  that  the  aniline  inks  have  the  characteristic 
of  a  metallic  lustre  in  the  dried  tracing  which  they  leave. 
There  are  other  inks,  however,  which  consist  of  metallic 
particles,  suspended  in  the  fluid  by  the  addition  of  gums, 
which  also  have  this  lustre,  but  it  is  sufficient  here  to 
recall  that  in  almost  all  cases  presented  by  modern 
and  ordinary  writing  a  metallic  lustre  is  indicative  of 
the  presence  of  aniline  inks.  Their  sediment  or  tracing 
possesses  also  the  property  of  iridescence,  or  play  of 
colors,  which  the  purely  metallic  inks  do  not  share.     As 


AND   DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  85 

a  general  rule,  a  metallic  lustre  and  iridescence  may  be 
assumed  to  indicate  the  presence  in  some  proportion  of 
aniline  colors  which  are  often  found  mixed  with  other 
inks.  A  very  small  percentage  of  aniline  mixed  with  an 
ink  will  serve  to  distinguish  it  from  that  ink  without  such 
addition. 

The  colors  exhibited  by  inks  when  seen  under  the 
microscope  differ  from  each  other  much  more  than  a 
superficial  examination  would  lead  one  to  suppose.  It 
has  been  before  stated  that  an  observer  is  apt  to  fail  in 
judging  of  the  similarity  of  the  colors  or  shades  of  two  inks 
by  the  naked  eye  when  one  is  in  considerable  mass  and 
the  other  is  represented  only  by  fine  strokes.  The  act  of 
magnifying  these  objects  spreads  them  out  over  a  broader 
surface  and  makes  the  comparison  fairer.  One  easily 
distinguishes  in  writings  at  different  dates  well-defined 
differences  of  color,  even  when  the  same  brand  of  ink  has 
been  used,  but  has  been  standing  in  the  inkstand  in  one 
case  longer  than  the  other. 

In  order  properly  to  appreciate  this  difference,  a  color 
scale  should  be  used,  and  the  colors  of  the  two  speci- 
mens matched.  In  most  cases  no  exact  counterpart  of 
either  will  be  found,  but  the  nearest  matches  will  be  seen 
to  differ,  and  if  the  specimens  be  both  of  the  same  ink 
the  difference  will  be  in  proportion  to  the  internal  chem- 
ical and  physical  changes  which  have  taken  place,  mainly 
through  oxidation  and  evaporation. 

But  the  changes  of  state  which  occur  in  the  inkstand 
are  not  the  only  changes  which  produce  a  difference  of 


SQ  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

inks,  or  a  difference  of  the  appearance,  as  a  line  on  paper, 
of  the  same  ink  at  different  dates.  In  all  inks  which  con- 
tain gums  in  solution  the  effect  of  evaporation  in  the  ink- 
stand is  to  concentrate  this  ingredient.  The  concentration 
of  the  coloring-matter  may  be  too  trifling  to  notice  when 
the  ink  is  first  laid  upon  the  paper,  but  that  which 
contains  the  most  gum  will  be  subjected  to  less  subse- 
quent change  in  a  given  period,  because  the  subsequent 
change  is  due  to  the  oxidation  of  the  air  as  Avell  as  to  the 
actinic  action  of  the  light,  and  the  former  is  hindered  by 
the  covering  of  gum.  After  three  or  four  months  from 
the  date  of  the  writing  the  ink  with  least  gum  will  begin 
to  show  a  slight  difference  from  that  which  has  more, 
and  in  three  or  four  years  the  distinction  may  be  great 
enough  to  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  entirely  different 
inks  have  been  employed. 

By  Camera  Lucida. — Where  two  writings  are  to  be 
examined  which  profess  to  have  been  made  at  the  same 
time  and  with  the  same  ink,  it  is  well  to  place  them  in 
succession  under  the  microscope  with  a  power  of  twenty 
to  fifty  diameters,  in  connection  with  the  camera  lucida, 
by  passing  a  color  scale  under  or  beside  the  reflected 
image  until  a  near  approximation  to  the  color  of  each 
ink  be  found  and  noted. 

In  this  first  experiment  care  should  be  taken  to  lay 
the  writings  on  some  opaque  object,  such  as  a  sheet  of 
metal,  or  a  piece  of  thick  cardboard,  in  order  to  exclude 
all  transmitted  light. 

The  author  has  found  it  better  in  this  kind  of  examina- 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  87 

tion  not  to  employ  the  parabolic  reflector  or  the  bull's- 
eye  refractor  for  illumination,  but  to  turn  the  stage  of  the 
microscope  aAvay  from  the  window  or  other  source  of 
light,  in  order  to  get  rays  as  perpendicular  as  possible  to 
the  surface  of  the  object. 

By  Reflected  and  Transmitted  Light. — When  this 
has  been  done,  a  similar  examination  should  be  made  by 
transmitted  light,  if  the  paper  be  not  too  thick. 

The  colors  by  reflected  and  transmitted  light  will  sel- 
dom agree,  and  in  general  the  amount  of  divergence  be- 
tween two  inks  will  be  different  in  the  two  cases ;  but 
care  should  be  taken  not  to  judge  too  hastily  of  the  results 
by  transmitted  light,  inasmuch  as  there  is  an  unknown 
quantity,  representing  dirt,  sizing,  and  natural  variation 
in  tlie  thickness  of  the  paper  fibres,  which  must  be  taken 
into  account. 

But,  even  with  these  drawbacks,  the  plan  is  one  which 
will  throw  light  upon  the  physical  properties  of  the  inks, 
though  without  ascertaining  on  what  those  properties 
depend. 

Oblique  Illumination. — After  the  two  examinations 
with  light  as  nearly  as  possible  perpendicular  to  the 
plane  of  the  paper,  in  the  one  case  reflected  and  in  the 
other  transmitted,  it  will  be  well  to  repeat  the  experi- 
ment with  oblique  illumination,  using  the  bull's-eye  illu- 
minator for  reflected  light,  the  document  being  laid  on 
an  opaque  stage ;  and  the  concave  mirror  under  the 
stage  arranged  for  transmitted  light. 

In   many  inks    side  illumination    produces  a  striking 


88  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

difference  from  perpendicular  illumination  in  the  color, 
and  those  which  exhibit  this  peculiarity  have  been  called 
dichroic.  The  degree  to  which  this  difference  appears 
depends  to  a  certain  extent  upon  the  character  of  the 
surface  of  the  paper.  Where  the  latter  is  rough  and 
uneven,  it  allows  more  transmission  of  light  from  the 
lateral  illuminant  through  the  films  spread  upon  the  little 
prominences,  and  the  changes  in  lustre  and  color  become 
more  apparent  where  the  surface  is  perfectly  smooth. 
Still,  no  surface  of  writing-paper  appears  entirely  smooth 
under  a  magnification  of  thirty  or  forty  diameters,  and 
appearances  entirely  unsuspected  by  the  naked  eye  be- 
come manifest  under  these  circumstances.^ 


Colored  Prisms. 
The  plan  which  has  yielded  the  author  the  most  valu- 
able results  is  that  of  examining  inks  both  with  and 
without  the  microscope  through  glasses  of  various  colors. 
If,  for  example,  both  inks  exhibit  a  blue  tinge,  it  is  be- 
cause the  red  and  yellow  rays  have  been  more  absorbed 
than  the  blue.     If  red,  blue,  or  yellow  glasses  of  different 

'^Application  of  Photography. — Professor  S.  P.  Sharpies,  of  Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts,  has  employed  a  method  for  the  determination  of 
differences  in  inks  -not  recognizable  by  the  unaided  eye,  by  their 
actinic  effects  on  a  sensitized  plate.  His  suggestion  is  to  make  a 
strong  and  a  weak  negative  from  the  writing.  If  the  inks  be  of  one 
kind,  all  the  marks  will  appear  uniform  for  each  photograph  ;  but 
if  not,  one  print  will  appear  more  distinct  than  the  other.  (See  Ap- 
pendix.) 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY. 


89 


thicknesses  be  placed  over  such  inks,  or,  better  still, 
acute  glass  prisms  of  these  colors  be  slid  over  the  charac- 
ters successively  to  the  point  of  extinction  of  their  color, 
— i.e.,  till  the  written  line  attains  a  maximum  blackness, 
— and  the  units  of  graduation  be  read  off  on  the  guiding 
ruler-edge  along  which  the  prism  is  moved,  tlie  relative 
difference  in  the  prevailing  color  of  the  two  inks  may 


Fig.  10. 


Yellow. 


Blue. 


Red. 


be  qualitatively  ascertained.  For  further  confirmation  of 
this  experiment  with  a  bluish  ink,  a  prism  of  yellow  glass 
may  be  used  with  advantage  after  the  red  prism.  In 
case  the  ink  have  a  yellowish  or  yellowish-brown  color, 
blue  and  red  glasses  or  prisms  may  be  employed ;  and 
for  reddish  inks,  yellow  and  blue  glasses  or  prisms.  The 
object  of  all  such  experiments  is  manifestly  to  establish 


90  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

differences  between  different  inks  in  their  power  of  ab- 
sorption for  different  colors,  and  this  makes  a  qualitative 
determination  by  colored  prisms  quite  as  valuable  as  sim- 
ilar determinations  of  differences  of  color  by  chemical 
reagents. 

The  prisms  devised  and  used  by  the  author  for  these 
experiments  are  7.5  centimeters  in  length,  fifteen  milli- 
meters in  width,  seven  millimeters  thick  at  the  base, 
and  0.2  millimeter  at  the  edge.  The  corners  are  all 
rounded  to  avoid  danger  of  breaking.  The  part  of  a 
line  on  which  the  color-experiment  is  to  be  tried  is 
brought  to  any  division-line  traced  on  the  graduated 
white  edge  of  the  ruler,  or  to  the  middle  of  the  slide- 
holder,  if  the  microscope  be  used.^  It  will  be  found 
convenient  to  bring  some  particular  mark  of  a  ruler 
graduated  to  millimeters  beneath  the  line  under  exami- 
nation, and  at  such  a  distance  below  that  the  sharp  edge 
of  the  prism,  continuing  the  mark  upward,  is  also  just  in 
contact  with  this  line.  By  pushing  the  prism  to  the  right 
or  left,  and  keeping  its  lower  long  edge  always  in  contact 
with  the  edge  of  the  ruler,  the  number  of  millimeters  of 
movement  necessary  to  extinguish  the  color  may  be  read 


*  In  practice  the  author  employs  a  boxwood  ruler  with  double  cel- 
luloid edges,  graduated  to  millimeters,  and  the  graduation  marks 
made  as  black  as  possible  to  assist  in  determining  by  comparison 
with  the  line  examined  (which  forms  a  continuation  of  the  gradua- 
tion mark  selected  as  the  zero)  when  the  maximum  darkening 
occurs. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  91 

off  on  the  ruler  from  the  assumed  zero  to  the  point 
where  the  thin  edge  comes  to  rest  at  the  moment  of  ex- 
tinction. 

In  cases  where  the  color  of  the  ink  is  too  intense  to  be 
neutralized  even  by  five  millimeters  of  one  of  the  col- 
ored glasses,  and  where  the  object  is  merely  the  deter- 
mination of  qualitative  differences,  another  prism,  of  a 
color  corresponding  as  little  as  possible  with  the  general 
color  of  the  ink,  may  be  superposed  on  the  first  (but 
with  its  thinner  edge  turned  towards  the  thicker  edge 
of  the  nether  prism)  and  slid  in  a  contrary  direction  until 
entire  extinction  of  the  color  is  attained. 

In  using  the  prisms  the  writings  to  be  examined 
should  be  laid  upon  a  table  placed  between  the  observer 
and  a  window,  if  daylight  can  be  used,  or  in  the  con- 
trary case  between  the  observer  and  the  source  of  light, 
which  should  be  as  white  as  possible.  The  incident 
beam  should  be  as  nearly  as  possible  perpendicular  to 
the  long  edges  of  that  plane  of  the  prism  in  contact  with 
the  table.  The  two  lines  selected  for  comparison  should 
be  as  nearly  alike  as  possible  in  thickness ;  and,  if  pos- 
sible, the  parts  of  the  line  examined  should  be  nearly 
straight,  so  that  they  may  be  placed  successively  in 
such  a  position  as  to  make  a  continuation  upward  of 
the  graduation  mark  on  the  ruler  selected  as  a  zero. 
The  observations  should  follow  each  other  as  quickly  as 
is  consistent  with  accurate  measurement,  in  order  that 
the  conditions  of  light  may  be  as  nearly  as  possible  uni- 
form throughout  the  period  of  making  them.    The  object 


92  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

is  to  ascertain  at  what  point  the  increasing  thickness  of 
colored  glass  produces  the  maximum  darkening  in  the 
line  compared  to  the  field  covered  by  the  colored  glass,  for 
this  is  the  point  at  which  the  colors  complementary  to 
that  of  the  glass  have  been  extinguished  by  it  through 
absorption.  A  further  increase  of  the  thickness,  it  is 
true,  makes  the  lines  still  darker,  but  it  also  makes  the 
field  equally  so  ;  in  both  cases  through  the  diminution  of 
light  owing  to  the  increase  of  thickness  of  the  absorbent 
glass.  Some  practice  will  enable  the  eye  to  appreciate 
when  this  point  is  reached.  When  the  absorption  of  the 
prism  is  feeble  it  will  be  found  useful  to  move  it  rapidly 
backward  and  forward  past  the  point  where  maximum 
relative  blackness  is  first  reached  ;  gradually  diminishing 
the  extent  of  the  excursions  until  they  become  only  a 
few  millimeters  in  length,  and  taking  the  mean  of  the 
readings  at  the  two  extremities  of  each  of  .these  excur- 
sions, as  is  done  when  one  desires  to  determine  the 
weight  of  a  light  object  on  a  sensitive -balance.  When 
the  prisms  absorb  the  rays  under  examination  strongly 
this  will  not  be  found  necessary. 

Comparative  Tests  by  Color  Prisms. — Inasmuch  as 
the  number  of  millimeters  over  which  it  is  necessary  to 
push  a  color  prism  to  obtain  the  point  at  which  total 
extinction  of  the  predominant  color  of  the  ink  is  reached 
depends  upon  the  amount  and  nature  of  the  light,  the 
angle  at  which  it  falls  on  the  prism,  etc.,  it  would  not  be 
possible  to  employ  it  to  perform  the  same  work  at  differ- 
ent places  or  times,  or  even  in  different  hands,  without 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  93 

providing  a  standard  illumination  and  nniforni  methods 
of  using  the  instrument. 

It  is  also  exceedingly  difficult  to  procure  glasses  suffi- 
ciently uniform  in  color  to  render  this  possible  without 
great  expense.^  But  the  value  of  the  method  is  not 
impaired  on  this  account  if  we  use  the  prisms  as  we 
would  use  an  aneroid  barometer  for  hypsometrical 
measurements  without  a  standard  barometer  for  control. 
In  both  cases  it  is  advisable  to  perform  the  work  quickly 
in  order  to  avoid  changes  of  surrounding  conditions.  As 
a  means  of  determining  practical  identity  or  difference  it 
is  equal  in  value  at  least  to  a  qualitative  chemical  test. 

QUALITATIVE    USE    OF    THE    PRISMS. 

If  the  prisms^  be  used  to  determine  the  absolute 
color  values  of  an  ink,  a  table  may  be  calculated,  by  the 

^  The  prisms  of  red,  yellow,  and  blue  glass  are  made  by  Hausmanii 
&  Co. ,  705  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia,  and  are  sold  in  neat  leather 
vest-pocket  cases,  designed  to  protect  them  from  injury. 

*  An  instance  of  the  utility  of  these  prisms  occurred  in  the  trial 
of  The  People  rs.  Roland  B.  Molineux  on  the  charge  of  murder, 
New  York.  February,  1900.  The  question  was  whether  certain 
alterations  in  exhibits  before  the  court  were  made  with  the  same 
ink  as  the  body  of  the  exhibits. 

The  author  was  requested  to  make  the  chemical  tests,  but  before 
doing  so  he  examined  the  two  inks  under  the  color  prisms.  With 
two  of  the  three  prisms  the  results  were  practically  similar,  but  with 
the  third  they  differed,  yet  not  enough  to  pronounce  the  inks  of  es- 
sentially different  composition.  The  chemical  tests  led  to  a  similar 
result,  though  six  separate  tests  were  made. 


94         •  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

aid  of  the  formulas  given  elsewliere,  whicli  sliall  repre- 
sent the  capacity  of  the  ink  for  absorption  of  that  part 
of  the  rays  of  a  standard  white  hght  complementary 
to  the  color  of  each  prism,  for  every  unit  of  -the  hori- 
zontal scale  selected  ;  but  in  the  majority  of  cases  which 
demand  simply  the  determination  of  the  agreement  or 
disagreement  of  two  ink  lines  in  their  capacities  for  ab- 
sorption, this  will  be  unnecessary,  and  the  observation 
simplified  to  noting  the  points  of  maximum  darkening  of 
the  lines  m  comparison  with  the  field  under  each  of  the 
three  prisms.  The  number  of  units  of  horizontal  meas- 
urement over  which  the  respective  prisms  must  be  moved 
in  order  to  attain  this  maximum  darkening  will  always 
serve  to  express  differences  or  similarity  between  two 
ink  marks,  and  will  generally  be  sufficient  for  the  object 
in  view. 

Especially  is  this  the  case  in  an  examination  under- 
taken simply  to  establish  the  identity  or  non-identity  of 
two  ink  lines, — for  here  it  is  unnecessary  to  give  the 
absolute  color  value  by  reference  to  the  lines  on  the  solar 
spectrum  or  otherwise,  but  only  the  relative  action  of  the 
same  absorbing  medium  on  two  inks.  In  such  cases  it 
matters  little  what  the  character  of  the  color  in  the  glass 
prism  may  be,  if  it  produce  a  different  appearance  upon 
the  two  ink  marks.^     The  main  difficulty  is  to  judge  the 

1  It  hardly  needs  to  be  said  to  those  who  eschew  the  Brewsterian 
theory  of  three  primary  colors,  and  accept  that  of  Young,  Helm- 
holtz,  and  Maxwell,  that  all  color  sensation  is  derived  from  nerve 
fibrils  in  the  eye,  which  may  be  divided  into  three  groups,  sensitive 


AND   DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  95 

point  at  which  the  colored  hne  ceases  to  grow  darker 
more  rapidly  than  the  surface  on  which  it  appears. 
When  this  point  is  reached,  a  further  movement  of  the 
prism,  bringing  a  greater  thickness  of  glass  over  the  line, 
will  not  increase  the  relative  blackness  of  the  latter,  but 
will  merely  darken  the  whole  field.^ 

Monochromatic  Light. — Finally,  it  is  well  to  illumi- 
nate the  writing  by  monochromatic  light,  and  to  examine 
it  when  thus  illuminated  both  with  the  naked  eye  and 
with  an  ordinary  hand  magnifying  glass.  Not  infre- 
quently a  better  general  idea  of  the  difference  of  the  inks 
employed  can  be  attained  by  this  method  than  by  exam- 
ining minute  portions  of  the  writing  with  higher  powers. 

If  the  parts  of  the  writing  which  there  are  other 
reasons  to  consider  of  doubtful  authenticity  show,  by 
this  test,  differences  from  those  parts  of  which  they 
are  the  ostensible  continuations,  additional  ground  is 
furnished  for  suspecting  them  to  be  fraudulent. 


to  red,  blue,  and  green  light  respectively  ;  that  there  is  no  objection 
to  selecting  a  red,  a  blue,  and  a  green  prism  for  neutralizing  the 
residual  color  of  a  ray  of  light  which  has  passed  through  the  ink 
film  under  examination.  The  only  point  necessary  to  obsen-e  is 
that  the  three  prisms  together  should  be  capable  of  absorbing  all 
the  escaping  colored  rays  and  that  no  two  of  them  should  absorb 
nearly  the  same  rays. 

'  I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  George  H.  Hallett,  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  for  a  mathematical  discussion  demonstrating  the 
practicability  of  using  these  prisms  for  the  determination  of  abso- 
lute color  values  of  inks,  which  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 


"gg  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

The  experiment  just  referred  to  may  be  carried  out 
either  in  a  dark  room  by  means  of  colored  lights,  such 
as  the  sodium  flame  made  by  alcohol  and  salt,  and  the 
red  and  blue  lights  of  commerce,  or  in  a  camera  ob- 
scura  to  which  light  is  admitted  on  top  through  an  aper- 
ture, which  can  be  covered  by  red,  blue,  or  yellow  glass 
plates ;  or  even  by  laying  these  latter  over  the  writing 
placed  on  a  table  and  illuminated  by  strong  sky-light  or 
artificial  light. 

The  corresponding  experiment  in  transmitted  light 
should  also  be  tried;  but  here,  owing  to  the  large  absorp- 
tion of  rays  by  the  paper,  the  document  should  be  placed 
on  the  colored  glass  and  the  latter  held  against  a  win- 
dow;  care  being  taken  to  prevent  illumination  of  the 
surface.  For  this  purpose  an  old  camera  or  other  box 
may  be  used,  of  which  the  two  ends  have  been  re- 
moved. The  paper  having  been  laid  with  the  writing 
uppermost  upon  the  colored  glass,  the  latter  held  against 
a  window-pane,  and  a  black  cloth  thrown  over  the  head 
of  the  observer  and  the  end  of  the  box,  the  observations 
just  detailed  may  be  carried  out. 

It  is  well  to  try  this  experiment  with  the  colored  glass 
first  above  and  afterwards  below  the  writing. 

When  the  paper  is  thick  or  opaque,  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  allow  direct  sunlight  to  pass  through  it.^ 


1  Dr.  Charles  A.  Doremus,  of  New  York,  has  applied  the  spectro- 
scope to  the  determination  of  characteristics  of  colored  inks. 


PART    II. 

GRAMMAPHENY. 

¥¥ 
CHAPTER    X. 

MICROSCOPICAL     EXAMINATION     OF     INDIVIDUAL     PECULIARITIES 
OF    INK    LINES. 

There  are  at  least  three  different  kinds  of  deviations 
from  the  lines  which  a  writer  with  pen  and  ink  attempts 
to  execute,  one  or  more  of  which  are  always  discover- 
able in  his  marks,  and  each  of  which  may  be  charac- 
teristic enough  to  suggest  its  author  ;  but  frequently  with 
a  degree  of  probability  inversely  proportional  to  its 
size  and  visibility.  The  first  class  includes  the  gross 
irregularities  and  wavering,  which  can  be  easily  de- 
tected by  the  naked  eye,  and  of  which  examples  have 
already  been  shown  in  the  cuts  representing  the  tremors 
of  weakness,  fraud,  and  illiteracy.  The  first  and  last  of 
these  tremors  are  allied  to  accidental  blemishes  made 
through  the  roughness  or  want  of  homogeneity  of  the 
paper  and  the  defects  of  the  pen  and  ink.  That  is  to 
say,  a  skilled  penman  may  evade  these  obstructions 
and  minimize  their   effects  ;    while  a  weak  or   illiterate 

7  '97 


98    '  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

writer  cannot.  They  need  no  further  description  in 
this  place,  as  they  have  been  considered  in  the  part 
dealing  with  general  characteristics. 

A  second  class  of  deviations  is  produced  by  what  seem 
to  be  rapidly  succeeding  variations  of  the  nerve  force 
exerted  on  the  muscles  of  the  fingers.  Assuming  this 
to  be  their  origin,  these  fluctuations  give  rise  either 
to  extremely  minute  lateral  motions  of  the  pen,  caus- 
ing its  apparently  straightest  down-stroke  tracings  to 
resolve  themselves  under  a  power  of  fifty  or  sixty 
diameters,  and  sometimes  even  with  the  aid  of  the 
ordinary  magnifying-glass  into  a  serpentine  course  in- 
visible to  the  naked  eye  ;  or  into  variations  of  vertical 
pressure  giving  rise  to  curious  and  partially  symmetrical 
widenings  and  narrowings  of  the  line.  Both  of  these 
effects  may  be  exhibited  in  the  same  writing,  or  there 
may  be  an  almost  entire  absence  of  either  or  both  of 
them,  depending  on  the  writer's  physiological  peculiari- 
ties, and  independently  of  his  skill  with  the  pen.  Pend- 
ing a  more  thorough  study  of  these  phenomena,  the 
author  has  ventured  to  call  them,  provisionally,  varia- 
tions of  nerve  force.  On  this  hypothesis  the  first  men- 
tioned, or  lateral  deviations,  may  result  from  that  action 
on  the  muscles  of  the  fingers  which  causes  the  pen 
to  oscillate  right  and  left  over  very  minute  distances 
during  the  writing;  the  second,  or  alternate  widening 
and  narrowing  of  the  line,  may  be  due  to  a  more  or  less 
rhythmic  increase  and  decrease  of  pressure  whereby  the 
distance   between   the    nibs  of  the   pen   is   alternately 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  99 

widened  and  narrowed,  and  tlie  flow  of  ink  is  propor- 
tionately increased  or  diminished  for  a  very  brief 
period.  The  two  kinds  of  appearances  just  described 
differ  greatly  in  number  and  character  in  different  writ- 
ings. The  lateral  excursions  of  the  pen  are  likely  to  be 
least  numerous  in  those  composed  of  short  and  vigorous 
strokes,  and  the  changes  of  breadth  of  the  line  in  those 
made  of  thick  lines  and  especially  with  viscid  inks. 

The  third  class  comprises  irregularities  much  minuter 
than  those  above  described,  also  possibly  due  to  similar, 
though  more  rapid,  fluctuations,  which  require  a  magnifj-- 
ing  power  of  at  least  one  hundred  and  twenty  diameters 
to  make  them  clearly  visible.  These  latter  irregularities 
take  the  form  of  minutek  serrations  or  sinuses  on  both 
margins  of  the  down-stroke  ink  line,  but  their  number 
is  usually  greater  on  one  edge  than  on  the  other  in  the 
lines  of  any  given  writer.  It  is  quite  possible,  in  the 
author's  opinion,  that  these  appearances  may  have  the 
same  origin  as  those  of  the  second  class,  but  in  the  sense 
of  a  series  of  extremely  fine  pulsations  superimposed  on 
those  less  fine,  which,  in  turn,  are  grafted  on  the  macro- 
scopic or  visible  deviations  mentioned  in  Class  No.  1. 

As  Avith  the  phenomena  of  the  second  class,  so  with 
those  of  the  third  class,  writings  are  occasionally  found 
which  show  very  few  serrations  on  either  side  of  the 
down-stroke  ink  lines,  or  which  have  as  many  serra- 
tions on  one  side  as  on  the  other ;  but,  far  from  impairing 
the  utility  of  these  features  as  a  means  of  identification, 
this  circumstance  lends  them  additional  significance, — for 


100  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

these  writings  are  few  compared  to  those  containing  a 
preponderance  of  serrations  on  one  of  the  two  margins 
of  the  ink  hnes,  and  any  such  writing  is  likely  to  be 
alone  in  the  small  number  generally  under  comparison, 
and  therefore  so  much  the  more  easily  identified. 

Thus  far,  experiment  has  only  resulted  in  showing  a 
connection  between  these  deviations  of  the  second  and 
third  classes  and  certain  involuntary  movements  of  the 
writing  fmgers ;  and  also  that  the  position  of  the  pen  is 
an  important  factor  in  determining  the  side  on  which  the 
greater  number  of  the  serrations  appears  ;  other,  and 
probably  equally  important,  factors  are  as  yet  undeter- 
mined. But  the  fact  of  the  existence  of  these  peculiarities 
is  unquestioned,  and  the  value  of  the  observation  where 
proofs  of  identity  or  non-identity  are  sought,  is  unques- 
tionable.^ 

If  it  be  attempted  to  count  the  number  of  serrations 
on  each  side  of  the  ink  line  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
which  side  contains  the  greater  number,  it  will  be  found 
better  to  select  those  serrations  of  medium  size  when  the 
magnification  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  diameters.  It 
frequently  happens  that  the  margin  containing  the  fewest 
serrations  of  medium  size  has  one  or  more  of  the  deepest 


^  In  a  case  requiring  in  a  very  short  time  the  formation  of  an 
opinion  as  to  whether  several  hundred  names  and  words  contained 
peculiarities  found  in  a  certain  identified  writing,  the  method  proved 
of  great  value,  and  the  trustworthiness  of  its  indications  was 
abundantly  proven. 


AND   DETECTION  OF   FORGERY.  IQl 

and  widest  indentations  in  the  field  of  view.  On  tiie 
other  hand,  the  very  smallest  irregularities  are  liable  to 
be  produced  by  so  many  and  such  trifling  causes  that  they 
have  less  value  for  Ihe  object  now  under  consideration 
than  those  of  larger,  but  not  the  largest,  size.  This  is 
especially  true  when  the  study  is  of  a  camera  lucida 
tracing,  for  there  the  involuntary  tremor  of  the  draughts- 
man may  be  responsible  for  some  of  them. 

It  lias  been  found  with  regard  to  those  persons  whose 
writing  was  tested,  that  if  the  hollow  of  the  pen  was 
turned  towards  the  right  (the  left  hand  nib  of  the  pen 
thus  resting  on  the  paper)  the  preponderance  in  number 
of  serrations  of  approximately  equal  size  will  be  on  the 
left.  If  the  hollow  of  the  pen  be  turned  to  the  left 
(thus  bringing  the  right  hand  nib  on  the  paper),  the  pre- 
ponderance will  be  on  the  right  ;  and  when  the  nibs  rest 
with  equal  force  on  the  paper  the  number  of  serrations 
produced  will  be  nearly  equal  on  the  right  and  left  hand 
margins  of  the  down-stroke  ink  lines. 

More  cannot  be  said  at  present  as  to  the  causes  which 
determine  the  position  of  the  preponderance  in  number 
of  these  serrations  on  the  right  or  left  margin  of  the  line, 
but  it  is  not  proven  that  the  position  of  the  plane  of  the 
pen-nibs  towards  the  plane  of  the  paper  is  alone  of  im- 
j)ortance  in  producing  this  phenomenon.  In  fact,  the  ex- 
amination of  lead-pencil  marks,  which  will  be  referred 
to  further  on,  where  the  influence  of  flexible  pen-nibs  is 
entirely  removed  from  considt^ration,  shows  the  serra- 
tions and  other  fringre-like  irregularities  which  occur  with 


102  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

them  to  be,  perhaps,  as  prominent  as  in  the  Hnes  made 
with  pen  and  ink. 

But  besides  the  preponderance  in  number  of  these 
little  tell-tale  serrations  on  one  side  or  the  other  of 
the  ink  line,  they  give  it  a  peculiar  character  which  seems 
to  be  fairly  constant,  and  it  is  not  at  all  impossible  tliat 
their  forms  may  by  future  investigation  prove  to  be 
peculiar  not  only  to  a  class  of  writers  but  even  to  the 
individual  who  makes  them,  somewhat  as  thumb-})rints 
on  wax  to  the  possessor  of  the  thumb  ;  though  in  all 
frankness  the  author  must  acknowledge  that  he  has  not 
yet  established  so  intimate  a  connection. 

So  far  as  he  has  yet  been  able  to  pursue  this  interest- 
ing subject,  the  differences  between  the  serrations  pro- 
duced by  different  writers  resolve  themselves  into  class 
differences,  like  those  of  the  fracture  of  minerals  and 
rocks.  It  cannot  be  said  the  serrations  are  those  peculiar 
to  A  or  to  J5,  but  rather  that  they  are  of  a  certain  char- 
acter which  various  individuals  may  have  in  common. 
The  possibility  of  finally  using  this  feature  to  identify  a 
particular  person  will  depend  upon  whether  differences 
of  character  can  be  established  inside  of  these  general 
class  resemblances,  and  whether  these  may  be  found  to 
lead  up  to  individuals. 

In  all  three  classes  of  deviations  from  the  course  of  a 
projected  line,  the  appearances  will  be  modified  by  the 
nature  and  condition  of  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  without 
altering  the  essential  characters  which  connect  them 
with  particular  classes  of  writers. 


PLATE   IV. 


Fig.  X. 


Fin.   Y. 


The  points  a  show  the  widest  and  6  the  narrowest  parts  of  the  ink  lines.  It  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  maxima  and  minima  of  the  two  margins  are  not  always 
opposite  to  each  other,  but  show  a  tendency  to  oscillate  about  a  horizontal  line, 
so  that  the  a's  and  &'s  of  one  margin  will  be  observed  alternately  above  and 
below  such  line  in  following  the  ink  mark  downward  ;  while  those  of  the  other 
margin  will  be  found  in  opposite  phase.  This  is  made  clearer  by  the  white  lines 
uniting  the  a's  and  6's  of  the  opposite  margins. 

This  can  be  accounted  for  by  the  simultaneous  operation  of  lateral  and 
vertical  movements  of  tlie  writing  hand,  Avhich  are  not  coincident  in  period. 
To  a  less  degree  also  this  effect  might  be  produced  by  the  slight  rotation  of  the 
penholder  from  side  to  side  between  tlie  fingers.    Magnified  :!U  diameters. 


I'LATK   V 


X^ 


I 


i^  1) 


Camera  liicida  tracing  of  margins  of  ink 
lines  in  tlie  two  words  reproduced  on  this  page. 
Magnification.  120  diameters. 


AND   DETECTION   OF   FORGERY.  103 

Figs.  A'  and  Y  (Plate  IV.)  are  pliotomifTograplis  of 
down-stroke  ink  lines,  illustrating  both  of  the  deviations 
described  as  belonging  to  Class  2  as  well  as  those  of 
Class  3,  or  the  serrations  themselves,  though  the  magnifi- 
cation (30  diameters)  is  not  sufficient  to  clearly  show  the 
latter.  The  small  letters  indicate  the  contractions  and 
the  enlargements  of  the  lines,  while  the  tortuous  course 
of  Fig.  X  is  quite  apparent.  Both  of  these  phenomena 
it  is  thought  by  the  author  may  be  due  to  nerve  im- 
pulses ;  the  first  vertical,  and  the  second  lateral. 

Each  of  the  two  ink  lines  represented  in  the  photo- 
micrographs (Figs.  A'  and  Y)  was  taken  from  part  of 
a  letter  m  one  of  the  two  words  "Philadelphia"  and 
"  Indianapolis"  (Plate  V.,  Fig.  1),  written  by  two  different 
persons. 

Figs.  X'  and  Y'  (Plate  V.)  are  tracings,  by  the  aid  of  the 
camera  lucida,  of  small  parts  of  the  two  ink  lines  X  and  Y 
under  a  microscopical  enlargement  of  one  hundred  and 
twenty  diameters.  They  show  the  nerve-impulse  (?) 
marks  of  pressure  more  clearly  than  the  photograph,  as 
well  as  the  serrations,  of  which  latter  the  preponderance 
in  number  is  seen  to  be  on  the  left  (or  doubtful)  in  A"', 
while  it  is  on  the  right  in  Y'.  These  figures  are  not  given 
as  they  appear  through  the  microscope,'  but  as  they 
actually  exist  in  the  writings  from  which  they  are  taken. 

1  The  apparent  positions  of  all  parts  of  the  object  as  viewed  in  the 
microscope  are  the  reverse  of  the  positions  represented  in  the  figure. 
The  right  is  the  left,  the  top  is  the  bottom.  The  appearance  in  the 
microscope  may  be  obtained  lay  turning  the  figures  upside  down. 


104  STUDY   OF   HANDWRITING 

Figs,  il/,  N,  and  O  are  tracings  by  the  camera  lucida 
irom  parts  of  a  document  connected  with  the  first  case' 
in  which  this  method  of  microscopical  examination  was 
employed  as  an  aid  to  identifying  different  series  of  pen 
marks.  The  tracings  by  the  camera  lucida  of  both  verti- 
cal and  lateral  nerve-impulse  (?)  lines  are  very  clearly 
and  perfectly  shown  with  the  same  magnification  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  diameters. 

Fig.  P  is  a  line  hi  the  same  letter  examined  under  the 
above  conditions;  but  in  this  case  a  photograph  was  used 
instead  of  the  original  letter.  It  is  an  illustration  of 
the  accuracy  of  a  good  photograph  in  reproducing  even 
the  most  minute  features,  since  some  of  the  sharply 
defined  indentations  cannot  represent  more  than  .0127 
centimeter  (or  one-two-hundredths  of  an  inch).  The 
figure  itself  is  an  excellent  example  of  the  two  varieties 
of  the  phenomena  of  Class  2,  as  well  as  of  Class  3. 

A  careful  study  of  numbers  of  these  serrations  has 
inclined  the  author  to  the  belief  that  they  are  due  to 
variations  of  nerve  force  of  great  frec{uency  acting  both 
laterally  and  vertically,  as  in  the  cases  of  the  grosser 
tremors  visible  under  low  magnifymg  power,  and  of  the 
macroscopic  or  visible  irregularities  first  mentioned. 

The  character  of  the  traces  left  by  these  supposed 
nerve  disturbances  may  be  changed  in  appearance  by  the 
thinness  or  thickness  of  the  ink,  by  the  coarseness  or 

'  The  case  of  the  People  va.  Roland  R.  Molineux  for  murder  in 
New  York  City,  tried  Fehriuiry,  1900. 


gins  of  photograph  o 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  105 

grain  of  the  paper,  or  by  tlie  stiffness  or  pliability  of 
the  pen  ;  but  these  variables  do  not  entirely  change  the 
individual  character  of  the  ink-line  structure  nor  the 
constancy  of  a  preponderance  of  the  serrations  on  one 
or  the  other  margin.'  This  constancy  is  caused,  in  part 
at  least,  by  the  position  of  the  pen  with  reference  to  the 
plane  of  the  paper,  that  one  of  the  two  nibs  which  rests 
upon  the  paper  producing  the  greatest  number  of  serra- 
tions. If  the  hollow  of  the  pen  be  turned  to  the  right, 
the  left  hand  nib  becomes  the  lower  one,  pressing  with 
most  force  upon  the  paper  and  tracing  the  left  hand 
margin  of  the  resulting  ink  Kne,  in  which  the  greatest 
number  of  serrations  will  be  found.  If  the  hollow 
of  the  pen  be  turned  to  the  left,  the  right  hand  margin 
of  the  line  will  show  the  greatest  number  of  serrations. 
A  rough  estimate  of  the  rapidity  of  these  tremors  may 
be  made  from  any  of  the  tracings,  or  from  the  photo- 
graphs, by  assuming  an  average  distance  through  which 
the  pen  moves  in  a  second,  and  counting  the  number  of 
serrations  which  are  formed  in  that  space  and  during  that 
interval  of  time. 

In  Fig.  iV,  if  we  assume  that  the  pen  moved  with  a 
velocity  of  one  centimeter  (0.39  inch)  in  a  second,  then 

'  If.  luasl  be  distinctly  understood  tliat  the  inquiry  is  directed 
always  as  to  which  margin  of  tlie  ink  line  under  examination  con- 
tains, on  the  whole  {i.e.,  after  the  examination  of  a  number  of 
sections),  the  majority  of  serrations  of  approximately  the  same  size. 
It  will  usually  be  possible  to  find  one  or  two  of  those  minute 
sections  when  the  general  rule  is  reversed. 


106  STUDY   OB^  HANDWRITING 

during  this  time  there  Avere  seven  larger  and  twenty-nine 
smaller  lateral  excursions  which  left  their  trace  in  this 
space  (corresponding  respectively  to  17.5  and  97.5  to  the 
inch).  In  the  same  space  and  time  (one  centimeter  and 
one  second)  there  were  six  grosser  vertical  pressures 
(corresponding  to  fifteen  to  the  inch).  The  minor  ver- 
tical pressures  are  not  so  easily  noted,  because,  owing  to 
the  adhesion  of  the  ink  to  the  pen,  the  release  of  a  slight 
excess  of  the  fluid  by  a  trifling  increase  of  pressure  will 
be  sluggish,  and  may  not  be  observable  when  the  va- 
riations of  force  follow  each  other  with  great  rapidity. 

Pencil-Mark  Serrations. — A  very  interesting  com- 
panion note  to  the  preceding  observation  is  the  appear- 
ance of  pencil  lines  under  the  microscope.  Here  the 
record  of  vertical  pressure  is  necessarily  absent,  since 
there  are  no  spreading  nibs  to  admit  a  larger  flow  of 
fluid.  But  the  lateral  deviations  are  very-  pronounced, 
and — what  might  not  have  been  expected — in  almost 
every  case  the  position  of  the  pencil  may  be  determined 
by  a  more  or  less  continuous  line  forming  one  margin  of 
the  stroke  while  the  other  is  a  fringe  of  detached  dots 
and  marks  comparable  roughly  to  the  map  of  an  archi- 
pelago and  a  main  coast.  These  detached  spots  are 
evidently  the  minute  bosses  and  corrugations  of  the 
fibrous  surface  of  the  paper  which  have  been  touched 
and  soiled  by  the  solid  point  of  the  writing  instrument. 

In  an  actual  case  it  was  possible  to  decide  without 
hesitancy  that  two  series  of  pencil  marks  were  probably 
not  made  by  the  same  hand,  because  the  fringe  of  macu- 


PLATE    VTT. 


Photomicrograph  of  an  ink  line  made  by  I'rofessor  Lightner  Witmer.    Maguitied 
120  diameters. 


Photomicrograph  of  ink  line  made  by  haiul.    Magnified  120  diameters. 


Tho  pliotomiciograph  (Plate  IX.)  opposite  this  page,  of  part 
of  a  line  drawn  by  a  machine  holding  an  ordinary  nibbed  pen,  is 
introduced  for  comparison  with  tlie  lines  drawn  by  human  hands. 
It  is  magnified  about  180  diameters. 

The  instruments  used  by  stationers  for  ruling  paper  are  minute 
metal  troughs  distributing  ink  at  one  open  bevelled  end.  Being 
rigid,  they  cannot  proiluce  the  inequalities  of  margin  due  to  tiuc- 
tuations  in  pressure  nuide  by  split  pens  with  elastic  nibs,  the 
object  studied  in  Chapter  X.  At  the  author's  request  ]Mr.  Hos- 
kins,  a  stationer  of  Philadelphia,  very  kindly  permitted  the  fore- 
man of  his  ruling  department  to  attach  to  a  ruling  frame  an 
ordinary  steel  pen,  after  charging  it  with  a  black  ink.  The  paper 
was  carried  under  it  by  the  usual  device  of  a  revolving  cloth 
band. 

On  comparing  the  photo-engravings  of  lines  made  by  human 
hands  (Plates  VII.  and  VIII.)  with  that  made  by  the  ruling 
machine  (Plate  IX.),  it  will  be  observed  that  the  general  direc- 
tions of  the  right  and  left  margins  of  the  latter  are  straight  and 
parallel,  though  each  is  interrupted  by  indentations,  due  to  ob- 
structions on  the  surface  of  the  paper,  to  faults  of  ink  or  pen, 
or  to  other  extraneous  causes.  Both  the  lines  by  human  hands 
show  curvature  in  general  direction,  the  machine-made  line  shows 
none.  In  the  latter  there  is  an  almost  entire  absence  of  the  me- 
dium-sized serrations.  The  alternate  widening  and  narrowing  of 
the  line  due  to  unconscious  fluctuations  in  pressure  on  the  pen 
is  also  conspicuously  absent  from  the  photomicrograph  of  the 
machine-drawn   line. 

These  observations,  so  far  as  they  go,  justify  the  recommenda- 
tions contained  on  page  101  as  to  the  selection  of  the  medium 
rather  than  the  largest  or  the  smallest  serrations  wiien  comparing 
the  numbers  on  each  margin  at  a  magnification  of  120  diameters. 
The  largest  indentations  may  be  produced  by  irregularities  in  tho 
paper  or  imperfections  in  the  pen  while  the  mark  is  being  made. 
The  smallest  undulations  may  be  the  result  of  so  many  different 
causes,  and  their  reproduction  in  illustrations  adds  so  many  more 
(even  to  the  imperfections  of  the  paper  on  which  the  illustration 
is  printed),  that  they  must  be  discarded  as  indications  of  fiuetua- 
tion   in   force. 

Plates  VII.,  VIII.,  and  IX.,  offer  a  strong  graphic  plea  with- 
out words  for  the  correctness  of  the  hypothesis  that  the  irregu- 
larities which  have  been  treated  in  Chapter  X.  are  in  fact  due  to 
the  writing  hand  and  not  to  outside  accidents. 


Photomicrograph  of  a  machine-drawn  ink  line  made  with  an  ordinary  steel 
pen,  tlie  nihs  pressing  equally  on  the  paper  and  being  drawn  downward.  The 
scarcity  of  serrations  and  the  absence  of  curvature  on  the  margins  are  notice- 
able. The  indentation  on  the  left-hand  side  is  due  to  an  imperfection  of  the 
paper.    Magnified  180  diameters. 


PLATE   IX.  a. 


Photomicrograph  of  pencil  line  made  by  Professor  Lightuer  Witmer. 
Magnified  120  diameters. 


X 


II 

Is 


I'late  X.  a  shows  camera  lucida  tracinjj;s  of  macliine-diawii  lines 
iiia<iiiili('d  under  the  inieroseope,  and  lends  still  sUonjicr  supiioil 
1()  the  ahove  eonelnsions.  as  it  laeks  the  irregularities  due  to  the 
fihre  and  paper  of  photo.uraphie  re|)resentations  of  ink  lines  at 
liij^h  j)o\vers.  Comparing  these  tracings  with  any  of  those  in  tiiis 
book  wiiieh  were  made  from  lines  penned  by  individuals,  tlie 
maehine  origin  of  the  former  becomes  strikingly  evident. 

The  visible  and  invisible  vibrations  of  the  machine  imitate 
somewhat  the  unconscious  serrations  of  the  human  hand  due  to 
tremor,  and  the  more  closely  the  greater  the  pressure  on  the 
pen-point;  but  there  is  an  absence  of  the  raggedness  due  to 
vertical  pressure;  and  the  edges  are 'much  straigliter  in  general 
direction. 

Even  in  the  machine-made  line  the  preponderance  in  number 
of  the  serrations  can  be  made  to  occur  <m  the  right  or  left  mar- 
gins, as  the  hollow  of  tlie  pen  is  inclined  to  the  one  side  or  the 
other. 

The  specimen  ])li()tomicrographed  (IX.)  is  a  minute  part  of  a 
line  ruled  by  a  machine  with  a  medium  fine  pen,  the  nibs  resting 
with  equal  and  moderate  pressure  on  the  paper. 

The  line  itself  at  high  magnifications,  as  well  as  its  camera 
lucida  tracing,  shows  important  diflerences  from  lines  made  by 
human  hands. 

For  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  the  position  of  the 
plane  of  the  pen-nibs  towards  the  plane  of  the  paper  were  an  im- 
portant factor  in  determining  the  side  of  the  line  which  showed 
the  greatest  number  of  serrations,  a  common  steel  pen  was  fitted 
to  a  ruling  frame  and  adjusted  alternately  with  the  hollow  of  the 
pen  to  the  right,  and  to'  the  left:  a  light  and  heavy  line  being 
made  in  each  of  these  positions.      (See  Plate  X.a.) 

The  lines  drawn  with  the  hollow  of  the  pen  to  the  right  (Figs. 
2  and  3)  both  show  a  marked  pre))onderance  of  serrations  on 
the  left  side.  The  lines  ruled  with  the  hollow  of  the  pen  to  the 
left  (Figs.  4  and  5)  show  the  same  preponderance  of  serrations 
on  the  right-hand  margins.  In  both  experiments  the  light  lines 
showed  a  greater  number  of  variations  from  straightness  than 
the  heavy,  because  the  tremors  of  the  machine  were  more  easily 
translated  to  the  pen  which  was  least  weighted.  Hut  there  was 
an  entire  absence  of  the  vibration  of  the  pen  from  side  to  side 
which  causes  the  sinuous  line  almost,  if  not  quite,  inseparable 
from  marks  made  by  human  hands.  The  line  traced  by  that  nib 
which  rested  on  the'pa])cr  (the  right  nib  where  the  hollow  of  the 
pen  was  to  the  left,  and  rirr  rrrsa)  in  all  cases  exhi!)its  tlie 
greater  number  of  serrations.  The  line  traced  by  the  upper  or 
free  nib  is  less  highly  indented.  T5ut  these  serrations  are  dif- 
ferent in  character  as  in  origin  from  those  which  arise  from  the 
widening  and  narrowing  of  a  line  by  simultaneous  but  opjiosite 
movements  of  pen-nil)s  guided  by  a  hvunan  hand  outward  and 
inward  on  the  two  margins,  and  due  to  unconscious  variations 
of   jnessure  of  the  wriling  hand   on   the  penholder. 


AND   DETFXTION   OF   FORGERY.  107 

lation  was  uniformly  on  one  side  in  one  series  and  on 
the  other  side  in  the  other.  A  pencil  mark,  or  the  pho- 
tographic representation  of  one,  viewed  under  certain 
conditions  in  the  microscope,  looks  like  an  elevated 
ridge,  while  it  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  depression  in  the 
paper. 

The  half-tones  (Plates  VII.,  VIII.,  and  IX.  a)  represent  a 
portion  each  of  the  J^  in  the  first  name  of  Professor 
Lightner  Witmer,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
w'ritten  by  himself  (a),  and  by  one  of  his  correspondents 
(6),  in  ink  ;  and  a  portion  of  the  yy  o^  ^^i^  I'lst  name 
(c),  written  by  himself  in  lead  pencil. 

a'  1  and  c'  1  (Plate  X.)  are  tracings  of  parts  of  the  letter 
J^  in  ink  and  pencil  respectively,  by  the  aid  of  the 
camera  lucida  at  the  same  magnification  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  diameters,  reproduced  in  the  photomicro- 
graph.     The  ink  letters  are  reproduced  on  Plate  X. 

a'  2  is  a  similar  tracing  of  a  part  of  the  initial  ^y^ 
of  Professor  Witmer's  last  name  written  in  ink  by  him- 
self; 6'  2  is  a  part  of  the  '^y^  of  his  last  name  wTitten  in 
ink  by  the  correspondent  before  mentioned. 

a  1  and  2,  and  h  1  and  2,  Plate  X.,  are  photo-engravings 
to  scale  of  the  initials  .^,  ''\  ^^  showing  the  parts  magni- 
fied in  a,  6,  a',  and  b'  \  c'  2  is  a  tracing  of  a  part  of  the  t 


'  In  the  Appendix  will  be  found  a  description  of  the  special  appa- 
ratus and  illumination  employed  to  reproduce  these  ink  and  pencil 
lines  without  exaggerating  by  lateral  illumination  the  asperities  of 
surface  which  would  otherwise  be  too  prominent  under  so  great 
a  magniricati(m. 


108  STUDY   OF   HANDWRITING 

in  the  same  word.  All  these  tracings  are«  made  at  a 
magnification  of  one  hundred  and  twenty  diameters. 

In  order  to  save  space  the  margins  of  the  pen  and 
pencil  lines  in  the  camera  lucida  tracings  (which  alone 
are  under  discussion)  have  been  crowded  together,  so 
that  the  breadth  of  the  line  as  seen  at  this  magnification 
is  not  represented. 

The  sections  represented  in  the  photomicrographs  and 
in  the  tracings  by  camera  lucida  are  not  exactly  the  same.' 


1  The  following  letter  from  Professor  Witmer  explaiiis  liis  views 
of  the  subjects  ^vhich  have  been  discussed  in  this  chapter  : 

University  of  Pennsylvania — Psychological  Laboratory. 

June  27,  1900. 

Dear  Dr.  Frazer, — The  examination  of  the  specimens  of  hand- 
writing which  you  showed  me  under  the  microscope  has  convinced 
me  that  the  sinuosities  and  serrations  are  individual  characteristics 
related  to  certain  conditions  in  nerve  impulses.  I  do  not  think  that 
these  serrations  and  sinuosities  necessarily  indicate  that  separate 
nerve  impulses  produce  the  large  and  small  lateral  and  veiiical 
variations  in  the  outlines  of  the  part  of  a  line  seen  undei  the 
microscope.  It  seems  to  me  that  these  are  rather  to  be  attril)uled 
to  fluctuations  in  what  may  be  vaguely  designated  neuro-muscular 
tonicity.  These  fluctuations  will  vary  according  to  the  medium  em- 
ployed, pen  or  pencil,  and  according  to  the  way  in  which  tbe  pen 
may  be  held  at  the  time  of  writing. 

It  is  likely  that  future  research  will  show  that  the  number  and 
character  of  these  variations  are  a  part  of  the  lu'isonal  character- 
istics of  an  individual.  At  the  present  time  your  method  of  treat- 
ment, whicli  considers  the  outline  as  analogous  to  a  specimen  of 
"rock  cleavage,"  would  appear  to  formulate  the  "personal  char- 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  109 

CHAPTER    XL 

GRAPHIC  AVERAGE  BY  COMPOSITE  PHOTOGRAPHY. 

The  method  of  graphic  average  or  composite  photog- 
raphy is  based  upon  the  same  general  principles,  but 
differs  from  the  next  in  the  manner  of  obtaining  the 
averages,  and  in  the  fact  that  the  result  obtained  is  not 
an  answer  to  the  question,  ''Is  the  disputed  signature 
probably  genuine  or  probably  not?"  ;  but  only  a  design 

acteristic"  element  with  as  much  scientific  accuracy  as  the  appear- 
ance of  the  outlines  justifies.  The  microscopic  investigation  of  the 
structure  of  the  ink  lines  would  seem  to  have  presenl  value  in 
contributing  to  the  identification  of  specimens  of  handwriting  and 
to  point  out  a  line  of  research  that  has  great  possibilities  of  develop- 
ment. Pencil  marks  do  not  appear  to  me  as  available  for  this  kind 
of  examination  as  are  the  pen  marks,  because  the  hardness  of  the 
pencil  point,  its  inelasticity,  the  absence  of  the  flow  of  ink,  and  so 
on,  are  likely  to  mask  the  fluctuations  of  nervous  impulses. 

The  illustrations  which  I  examined,  both  the  half-tones  and  the 
camera  lucida  tracings,  accurately  represent  what  is  seen  through 
the  microscope. 

In  a  hook  containing  names  or  other  words,  written  by  one  hand, 
or  by  many  hands,  it  would  be  possible  both  from  pen  and  pencil 
tracings,  and  perhaps  fruiii  photographs  of  them,  to  employ  the 
maximum  number  of  serrations,  relatively  on  the  two  sides,  and 
the  general  character  of  the  outline,  as  could  be  ascertained  by 
microscopic  examination,  to  strengthen  the  probability  that  the 
tracings  were  by  one  particular  hand  or  l)y  more. 

Very  truly  yours, 

LiGHTNER    WiTMER. 


110  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

closely  resembling  the  ideal  signature,  which  must  then 
be  so  employed  as  to  throw  light  on  this  question. 

It  will  be  understood  from  what  has  been  already  said, 
that  the  number  of  parts  susceptible  of  measurement, 
called  "  features"  of  a  handwritmg,  is  practically  infinite, 
since  the  distance  between  every  two  points  in  the  writ- 
ten marks  would  constitute  one  such  feature,  and  the 
best  that  can  be  done  by  the  system  of  measurement 
and  tabulation  is  to  select  a  very  few  of  what  seem  to  be 
the  most  striking  features  for  examination. 

But  by  the  application  of  the  beautiful  method  first 
introduced  to  the  notice  of  the  reading  public  by  Fran- 
cis Gallon,  we  obtain  not  merely  the  averages  of  a  few 
selected  "  features,"  but  one  great  average  of  all,  made 
automatically  and  instantaneously  by  composite  pho- 
tography. By  this  process  no  agreements  nor  differ- 
ences between  the  separate  specimens  are  neglected, 
and  it  may  fau-ly  be  called  the  method  of  "graphic 
average." 

If  it  be  conceded  that  the  result  of  an  effort  made  by 
a  living  being,  to  repeat  an  action  it  has  become  habitu- 
ated to  make,  is  within  certain  limits  uniform,  then  the 
way  is  clear  to  study  the  results  of  such  efforts,  and  to 
obtain  from  their  average  an  approach  to  the  ideal  which 
each  of  these  actions  or  series  of  actions  was  intended 
to  produce,  though  it  never  quite  succeeded. 

If  we  could  divide  such  an  ideal  into  three  compo- 
nent parts,  A,  B,  and  C;  and  if  we  found  that  out  of 
thirty  efforts  A  has  remained  constant  in  twenty-five, 


AND  DETECTION  OF   FORGERY.  HI 

B  in  twenty-five,  and  C  in  twenty-five  ;  while  A,  B,  and 
C  have  only  appeared  together  in  fifteen  cases  out  of  the 
thirty,  we  are  justified  in  concluding  that  these  fifteen 
cases,  though  they  represent  but  half  of  the  whole 
number  of  results,  constitute  in  reality  the  id(^al  which 
the  agent  has  always  sought  to  produce. 

Francis  Galton  was  the  first  to  point  out  in  fugitive 
memoh-s,  and  notably  in  his  important  work,  "The 
Human  Faculty,"  that  one  could  sift  the  common  from 
the  accidental  features  of  a  number  of  objects  by  ex- 
posing them  in  succession  to  a  sensitized  plate  in  such  a 
manner  that  the  images  of  the  similar  parts  of  the  dif- 
ferent objects  should  occupy  as  nearly  as  possible  the 
same  parts  of  the  plate  ;  and  that  each  object  should  be 
exposed  for  only  a  fraction  of  the  length  of  time  neces- 
sary to  complete  a  picture  on  the  film  used.  This  frac- 
tion depended  generally,  if  not  always,  on  the  number 
of  objects  and  on  the  sensitiveness  of  the  film.  For 
example,  if  there  were  eighteen  objects  and  the  plate 
took  thirty-six  seconds  to  develop,  each  object  would 
ordinarily  be  exposed  for  two  seconds.  The  result  in 
the  finished  picture  would  be  that  those  features  which 
all  the  objects  had  in  common  would  be  reinforced 
by  each  separate  exposure,  whereas  those  which  were 
accidental,  or  varied  for  every  individual,  being  ex- 
posed for  but  two  seconds,  or  one-eighteenth  of  the 
time  necessary  to  make  a  perfect  picture,  would  be  so 
indistinct  as  practically  to  disappear,  ^^^lere  the  ob- 
ject was  to  fix  a  family  type  by  photographing  all  the 


112  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

members,  male  and  female,  on  the  same  portion  of  the 
plate,  the  result  is  a  curious  medley  of  faint  whiskers 
and  moustache  ;  of  hair  parted  in  the  middle  and  at  the 
side ;  of  female  gowns  with  buttons  to  the  throat,  and 
of  male  shooting-jackets  thrown  open.  But  out  of  all 
this  faint  halo  of  confusion  and  blur  there  starts  a  char- 
acteristic face  which  is  the  family  type.  Very  often,  too, 
this  type-face  resembles  both  of  two  different  members 
of  a  family  between  whom  by  direct  comparison  no  one 
can  find  a  resemblance.  It  is  this  latter  fact  (which 
might  have  been  expected)  that  induced  the  writer  to 
look  to  the  process  for  aid  in  solving  the  problem  of 
identity  of  origin  in  handwritmg.  When  a  number  of 
animals  of  the  same  race  are  thus  treated,  the  method 
fixes  the  race  characteristics  ;  when  a  number  of  pa- 
tients suffering  from  the  same  disease  are  treated,  the 
traces  peculiar  to  this  disease  are  emphasized,  etc.  When 
a  number  of  pictures  or  coins  bearing  different  repre- 
sentations of  the  same  individual  or  scene  are  the 
objects,  the  result  is  to  obtain  either  the  average  ap- 
pearance of  the  same  thing  under  different  conditions 
(as,  for  instance,  one  man  at  different  times  of  life),  or 
the  average  of  the  impressions  made  by  identically  the 
same  thing  on  different  artists.  In  this  latter  case  the 
merit  of  the  process  is  that  it  constructs  its  image  out  of 
all  that  many  pairs  of  trained  eyes  have  seen,  without 
giving  undue  weight  to  any  one  pair.  So  far,  then,  these 
efforts  have  been  directed  to  recovering  a  lost  or  con- 
cealed existence  through  multiple  testimony,  very  much 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  113 

as  the  law  tries  to  get  at  the  truth  by  examining  a 
number  of  witnesses. 

A  hne  made  by  a  human  arm  and  hand  is  liable  to  the 
variations  which  such  an  arm  or  hand  must  produce  when 
influenced,  as  it  almost  always  is,  by  indefinitely  numer- 
ous disturbing,  physical  (and  mental)  forces.  A  line  so 
produced  on  paper  is  as  much  a  resultant  of  organic  pro- 
cesses as  the  outline  of  the  human  figure  or  the  expres- 
sion of  the  human  face.  It  is  a  kind  of  fossil,  like  the 
print  of  a  footstep  or  of  a  leaf  which,  though  it  consist 
of  nothing  having  life,  or  that  need  ever  have  had  life, 
and  though  it  possess  none  of  the  material  of  the  body 
which  made  it,  is  capable,  like  the  other  fossils  above 
referred  to,  of  telling  a  great  deal  of  the  characteristics  of 
that  which  produced  it.  It  is,  in  fact,  as  organic  as  the 
external  forms  of  living  things  by  which  we  judge  them, 
for  neither  do  these  outlines  and  surfaces  possess  life. 

With  a  given  mental  image  before  one  of  what  is  to 
be  written,  and  with  a  constant  relation  of  will-power, 
nerve  sensitiveness,  and  muscular  force,  the  same  word 
could  be  exactly  reproduced  a  thousand  times  by  a  writer, 
provided  that  all  these  conditions  were  invariable,  and 
no  others  were  superadded.  So  far  from  this  being 
the  case,  however,  every  one  of  the  above  conditions 
which  influences  the  production  of  a  written  word  is 
constantly  varying.  The  movement  commenced  to  ef- 
fect an  up  stroke  is  interfered  with  by  an  unexpected 
obstacle  in  the  paper,  a  slight  twinge  in  the  shoulder 
or   the    unconscious    start   caused   by  a   sudden    noise. 


114  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

etc.     The  resulting  line  shows  (did  we  sufficiently  un- 
derstand  the    detailed  working  of  all   the    complicated 
parts  of  our  mental  machinery  to  interpret  it)  just  the 
order   in   which    our   different   sentient   and    executive 
functions  have  been  affected,  to  what  extent,  and  in  what 
manner.      But  while  these  ever  recurring  accidents  re- 
sult in  preventing  any  word  from  being  made  exactly  as 
it  otherwise  w^ould  have  been,  the  fact  that  no  two  of 
them  represent  the  same  kind  or  amount  of  deviation 
leaves  it  still  in  the  power  of  the  experimenter  to  extract 
by  this  process  the  "  ideal"  writing, — a  writing  which  prob- 
ably never  was  seen  precisely  as  it  appears  in  the  com- 
posite, and  yet  which  so  combines  all  the  visible  results 
of  a  particular  will  acting  on  a  particular  arm  to  trace 
on  paper  a  known  design  with  a  pen  or  pencil  that  it 
may  justly  be  called  the  type  chirography  of  that  writer. 
What  was  said  of  the  resemblance  of  every  individual 
of  a  group  of  related  objects  to  the  composite  made  of 
them  all,  even  tliough  it  differ  widely  from  other  mem- 
bers of  the  same  group,  is  true  of  handwriting.     It  has 
been  remarked  that  the  composite  signature  is  an  ideal, 
and  never  was   realized.      The  lines   along  which  the 
strongest  reinforcements  are  made  are  those  parts  of 
the  signature  where  the  pen  deviates  least  frequently 
from  a  certain  course.     Let  us  suppose  the  signatures 
«,  6,  c,  and  d  to  be  in  agreement  as  follows.      At  the 
point  I,  h  does  not  coincide,  but  c  and  d  do.     At  ?n,  c 
does  not  coincide,  but  d  and  a  do.     At  n,  d  does  not 
coincide,  but  a  and  h  do.     The  tracing  which  would  repre- 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  I15 

sent  to  the  eye  part  of  the  ideal  signature  would  be 
that  traversing  the  points  I,  m,  ?t,  because  each  of  those 
points  having  superpose(i  lines  of  three  out  of  the  four 
signatures  would  be  darker  than  other  parts  of  the 
writing,  while  the  variations  would  be  indistinct. 

In  examining  with  care  such  a  composite  signature 
as  has  been  just  described,  the  attention  is  at  once 
arrested  by  the  fact  that  the  variations  are  not 
equally  distributed  over  the  entire  body  of  the  letter,  but 
that  there  are  regions  of  each  letter  where  variations  of 
a  particular  kind  are  noticeable,  and  other  regions  where 
there  are  few  or  none.  The  greater  the  number  of 
writings  of  an  individual  compared  the  more  obvious 
does  this  fact  become,  until  one  is  tempted  to  con- 
clude that  after  a  handwriting  is  once  formed  it  cannot 
naturally  exhibit  deviations  except  within  defined  limits 
and  in  certain  small  areas  adjacent  to  the  separate  letters. 
It  is  thus  as  important  to  the  comprehension  of  the  char- 
acter of  a  writing  to  study  the  variations  and  their  limits, 
as  to  study  the  ideal  writing.  Indeed,  the  variations  are 
all-important  in  the  matter  of  identification,  and  if  there 
were  no  variations  the  method  would  be  inapplicable, 
because  an  exact  copy  of  any  word  might  be  made, 
for  example,  by  tracing.  The  kind  of  variation  is  easily 
observed  where  there  are  a  number  together.  The  most 
perfect  adept  at  forgery  could  hardly  hope  to  simulate 
the  microscopically  minute  variations  which  are  simply 
the  visible  expression  of  a  series  of  indefinitely  complex 
influences  of  certain  nerves  on  particular  muscles. 


116  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

Composite  photography  is  a  method  of  obtaining  the 
essence  of  a  number  of  objects,  and,  in  so  far  as  those 
objects  are  related,  of  recording  their  relation  to  each 
other.  The  objects  thus  generalized  are  the  results  of  the 
action  of  a  certain  force  or  certain  forces  on  matter.^ 

The  signature  or  the  merely  formal  and  always  re- 
peated parts  of  a  letter  of  correspondence  or  other  docu- 
ment have  an  entirely  different  determinative  value  from 
those  parts  which  are  composed  of  words  and  letters 
thrown  together  in  an  order  which  may  never  be  re- 
peated. Separate  words  can  be  selected  to  form  bases  of 
composites,  or  even  the  two  or  three  words  which  enter 
into  an  idiom, — that  well-trodden  short-cut  of  language 
to  a  given  idea.  Partial  phrases,  by  any  one  accustomed 
to  write  much,  rendered  frequently  in  other  languages 
by  a  single  word,  such  as  "  in  order  that,"  "  as  well  as," 

^  In  a  pleasant  letter  received  from  Mr.  Francis  Galton,  F.R.S., 
with  his  acknowledgment  of  the  receipt  of  a  copy  of  the  paper  on 
this  subject  which  1  sent  him,  he  mentions  that  an  attempt  was 
made  at  the  Kew  Observatory  to  apply  the  principle  of  composite 
photography  even  to  the  meteorological  charts,  without  great  suc- 
cess, though  with  more  than  Mr.  Galton  would  have  anticipated. 

A  more  recent  and  fortunate  application  of  the  principle  appeared 
in  the  American  Geologist  for  April,  1894,  where  Mr.  J.  M.  Clarke 
mentions  the  successful  use  of  this  method  to  procure  a  ' '  funda- 
mentum"  for  the  variations  of  Leptodesma,  a  genus  of  lamelli- 
branchs  occurring  in  the  Hamilton  and  Chemung  stages.  The 
strongest  lines  in  the  composite  correspond  nearly  with  Leptodesma 
Rogersi. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  117 

"not  only,"  "but  also,"  etc.,  may  be  taken  as  elements 
for  the  construction  of  composites,  but  the  constancy 
in  form  of  such  elements  is  not  as  great  as  that  of 
the  signature  and  the  few  formal  words  which  pre- 
cede it  in  an  epistle.  There  are  several  reasons  for 
this :  one  is  that  these  formulas  occur  in  different  con- 
nections with  the  accompanying  text,  indicating  very 
different  attitudes  of  mind  in  the  several  cases.  The 
sense  of  what  is  written  must  have  a  large  influence  in 
the  manner  of  writing  it,  and  therefore  the  letters  com- 
posing these  Avords  will  be  larger  or  lighter,  or  more  or 
less  quickly  and  irregularly  written,  as  the  idea  conveyed 
evokes  different  emotions  in  the  mind  of  the  writer,  yet 
the  characteristics  which  connect  the  writing  with  him  will 
never  be  wholly  lost.  A  circumstance  equally  notice- 
able will  be  the  place  which  the  words  occupy  on  the 
paper,  whether  where  there  is  an  abundance  of  room  to 
write  the  words,  or  where  they  are  cramped  in  order 
to  bring  them  into  a  smaller  space.  In  cases  where 
the  words  of  such  a  subphrase  are  divided  between 
two  lines,  they  will  almost  surely  not  appear  as  they 
would  when  they  follow  each  other  in  their  natural 
order.  But  even  more  than  these  is  the  fact  that  the 
signature  and  its  connected  words,  "  Yours  truly,"  etc., 
are  always  indicative  of  the  task  completed,  the  infor- 
mation conveyed.  They  are  words  of  ceremony  and 
farewell,  no  matter  what  the  contents  of  the  letter  may 
be,  and  being  invariably  repeated  they  come  to  be  a 
purely  conventional  sign.     This  symbol  usually  occupies 


118  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

very  nearly  the  same  part  of  the  page, — at  least  as  to  its 
distance  from  the  right-  and  left-hand  edges  of  the  paper, 
— and  this  tends  to  give  it  a  certain  distinctive  charac- 
ter. All  these  facts  lead  to  a  difference  in  appearance 
between  a  signature  and  an  original  composition  by  the 
same  hand. 

There  are,  of  course,  peculiarities  in  every  hand- 
writing which  can  be  traced  both  in  the  signature  and 
in  the  body  of  the  text.  These  are  very  apparent  when 
the  writer  labors  under  a  physical  disadvantage,  such  as 
a  maimed  or  deformed  hand  or  arm,  but  in  lesser  degree 
they  are  present  in  every  handwriting,  and  constitute 
the  general  resultant  of  ''  will-power,  nerve  sensitive- 
ness, and  muscular  force"  employed  by  a  given  indi- 
vidual in  this  perfunctory  habit. 

It  is  not  always  entirely  obvious  how  signatures  with 
many  light  flourishes,  or  accompanied  by  intricate  lines 
connecting  their  several  parts,  should  be  superposed ;  for 
these  appendices  are  so  easily  affected  by  minute  causes 
that  it  seldom  happens  that  two  will  cover  each  other 
exactly.  It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  such  parts  will 
survive  in  the  resulting  type  signature,  but  the  breadth 
of  the  space  covered  by  the  blur,  and- the  parallelism  of 
the  faint  lines  will  give  evidence  of  the  extent  to  which 
these  ornaments  have  grown  from  caprice  to  a  habit. 

As  a  general  rule,  there  are  several  places — sometimes 
as  many  as  eight  or  nine  in  a  long  signature — where  the 
maximum  darkening  of  the  lines  indicates  a  general  con- 
formity of  the  pen's  path  to  one  direction,  and  it  would 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  119 

seem  that  these  places  were  not  peculiar  to  any  one 
part  of  a  letter,  nor  less  in  a  hair-line  than  in  a 
heavy  stroke.  They  appear  to  be  dependent  upon 
the  anatomy  and  muscular  structure  of  the  individual, 
and  his  method  of  performing  the  act  of  writing  his 
signature.  For  instance,  some  writers  can  only  form  one 
or  two  letters  without  moving  the  writing  hand,  and  only 
a  word  or  so  without  shifting  the  elbow ;  others  describe 
with  the  forearm  of  the  writing  hand  a  curve  around  the 
elbow,  which  latter  remains  stationary  ;  others  slide  the 
forearm  along  into  parallel  positions  while  writing.  All 
these  habits  have  different  effects  upon  the  handwriting, 
though  they  are  not  always  to  be  easily  detected,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  other  habits  are  cultivated  at  the  same 
time  to  counteract  the  defects  which  each  of  these 
methods,  when  not  so  compensated,  would  have  im- 
pressed upon  the  appearance  of  the  chirography. 

Thus,  he  who  writes  with  a  definite  part  of  the  arm 
pivoted  immovably  upon  the  table  must  learn  to  move 
the  fingers  over  a  greater  space  at  some  part  of  the  line,  to 
avoid  the  curve  which  would  unconsciously  result.  This 
more  vigorous  movement  of  the  fingers  is  naturally  likely 
to  produce  heavier  strokes  in  the  part  of  the  signature 
where  the  compensation  is  applied.  So  that  a  fixed  fore- 
arm and  heavy  letter  in  the  middle  of  the  signature  may 
stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect. 

Methods  of  making-  Composites. — There  are  at  least 
two  methods  of  making  composites.  The  first  was  sug- 
gested by  Mr.  Gallon,  and  consists  in  exposing  the  sen- 


120  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

sitive  plate  to  each  of  ttie  objects  in  succession  for  a 
fraction  of  the  time  necessary  to  produce  the  negative,  care 
being  taken  to  bring  similar  parts  of  the  images  formed 
by  the  lens  over  the  same  part  of  the  plate.  The  plate 
will  be  exposed  to  each  object  for  a  time  equal  to  the 
number  of  seconds  required  for  a  complete  exposure 
divided  by  the  number  of  objects. 

This  plan  is  preferable,  and  in  fact  necessary,  where 
each  object  supplies  details  to  a  large  part  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  sensitive  plate  included  by  its  outline. 

The  second  method,  which  is  applicable  to  linear  de- 
signs like  handwriting,  consists  in  photographing  each 
object  on  a  film  of  gelatinized  celluloid  and  making  a 
composite  by  superposing  these  films,  and  photographing 
them  all  together  when  thus  superposed. 

If  the  number  of  authentic  signatures  from  which  the 
composite  is  to  be  made  is  very  large,  they  are  sorted 
into  different  lots,  each  lot  consisting  of  words  having 
approximately  the  same  dimensions,  and  composites  are 
made  from  these  lots,  care  being  taken  to  make  the  re- 
sulting composites  equally  long  by  altering  the  distance 
of  the  objects  from  the  camera  where  necessary. 

Composites  can  be  made  of  these  first  composites  again 
until  a  final  plate  is  secured  representing  the  composite 
of  all  the  genuine  signatures  employed. 

Such  a  final  composite  will  appear  as  a  heavy,  thick- 
lined  signature,  which,  nevertheless,  exhibits  very  strik- 
ingly the  peculiarities  of  its  writer's  hand. 

Where    extreme    precision   is   required,    or   in    cases 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  121 

where  tlie  writing  is  so  wide  and  loose  that  good  com- 
posites of  the  two  or  more  names  as  a  whole  cannot  be 
obtained,  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  a  composite  of 
each  name,  or  even  of  each  letter  separately,  and  to  study 
the  suspected  writing  name  by  name,  or  letter  by  letter. 

This  plan,  while  more  laborious  and  expensive,  is 
much  more  certain  to  lead  to  good  results,  because  it 
deals  with  each  element  of  the  complete  signature  sepa- 
rately, and  not  with  groups  of  them  together.  But  in 
most  cases  the  treatment  of  the  whole  signatqre  or  each 
name  as  a  unit  will  yield  important  data  for  deciding  as 
to  its  genuineness.  A  composite  of  each  name  of  a  sig- 
nature will  obviate  the  difficulty  of  dealing  with  too  great 
a  number  of  variables  at  once  ;  and  this  method  is  pref- 
erable to  the  analysis  of  the  component  parts  separately, 
because  there  is  a  character  in  the  way  in  which  the 
letters  are  strung  together  which  is  overlooked  when 
they  are  considered  each  by  itself. 

Mr.  W.  Curtis  Taylor  made  the  first  composites  of 
signatures  for  the  author,  and  also  the  composite  of  the 
Washington  signatures,  accompanying  a  paper  on  this 
subject,  presented  to  the  American  Philosophical  Society 
in  188G.     (Plate  XI.,  No.  4.) 

This  composite  was  made  by  Galton's  method  of  ex- 
posing each  of  the  objects  to  the  same  sensitive  plate 
for  less  time  than  is  necessary  to  develop  it. 

More  recently  Mr.  Charles  Truscott  has  prepared  an- 
other composite  from  the  same  signatures  by  the  method 
of  superposition. 


122  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

The  method  of  examining  by  composite '  photography 
is  to  be  recommended  wherever  applicable,  because  it 
includes  all  the  elements  of  character  in  a  handwriting, 
and  not  merely  a  selected  few ;  because  it  eliminates  the 
personal  error  of  observation  and  measurement,  and 
represents  everything  in  the  final  result  which  existed 
in  the  separate  cases. 

In  this  it  is  even  better  than  the  tables  drawn  up  to 
represent  the  numerical  averages  by  measurement,  be- 
cause it  appeals  at  once  to  the  eye  and  requires  no 
previous  knowledge  of  even  the  simplest  mathematics. 
It  would  seem,  therefore,  when  properly  employed,  and 
not  abused,  or  strained  to  procure  results  which  it  can- 
not legitimately  give,  to  be  simple  and  reliable,  and,  if  the 
photographs  have  been  honestly  and  wisely  prepared,  it 
removes  the  personality  of  the  expert  from  the  case  al- 
together. 

Washington's  Signature. — George  Washington's  sig- 
nature has  been  selected  as  an  illustration,  because  many 
persons  are  familiar  with  it,  and  there  are  numerous 
well-authenticated  documents  in  existence  which  bear  it. 
It  is,  however,  a  severe  test  of  the  principle  because  of 
its  length,  and  the  dash  and  freedom  with  which  it  was 
written. 

In  writing  his  signature  Washington  put  pen  to  the 
paper  five  times.  First  he  wrote  the  "  G  W"  in  one 
connected  line.  Second,  he  raised  his  hand  and  made 
the  small  "  o"  between  the  upper  parts  of  the  G  and  W, 
and  the  two  dots  which  appear  in  all  but  signature  No.  7. 


>•.. 


.A* 


^' 


"A 


'A 


y^JS^ 


~  ^ 


^^'v!^;/^:^^.^^^/'^^-:;^- 


^  ^^^^/A^^ 


5''^^^^/^^^^2.<;?V=2.'^^J-^- 


AND  DETECTION  OF   FORGERY.  123 

Third,  his  arm  and  hand  were  placed  in  position  to  write 
"  ashing,"  these  six  letters  occupying  a  breadth  of  almost 
exactly  4.5  centimeters  (or  1.76  inches)  in  every  signa- 
ture except  the  third,  where  they  are  extended  to  4.7 
centimeters  (or  1.84  inches).  This  is  about  as  much  of 
the  arc  of  a  circle,  of  which  the  centre  is  some  part 
of  the  forearm  pivoted  on  the  table,  as  one  with  arms 
and  hands  of  average  length  can  cause  to  coincide 
with  the  tangent,  or  the  base  line  of  the  letters,  unless 
unusual  effort  be  made  and  a  great  deal  more  move- 
ment be  given  to  the  fingers.  The  "g"  ends  in  a 
curved  flourish,  of  which  the  convex  side  is  turned  up- 
ward below  the  right  centre  of  the  name.^  Fourth,  he 
wrote  the  final  '^  ton."  Fifth,  he  added  the  very  peculiar 
flourish  above  the  right  centre  of  the  name,  with  the 
object  of  dotting  the  "  i"  and  crossing  the  "  t"  at  the 
same  stroke. 

In  examining  the  composite,  the  effect  of  these  various 
separate  movements  becomes  manifest  in  its  strengthened 
portions.  It  is  hardly  possible  that  any  one  during  the 
period  of  sixteen  years  which  these  signatures  represent, 
or  from  1776  to  1792,  should  have  so  schooled  his  hand 
to  write  a  long  name  that  the  first  three  or  four  centimeters 
of  the  writing  should  always  occupy  the  same  relative 
position  to  the  body  of  the  signature.  It  would  take  at  least 
that  much  action  for  the  hand  and  arm  and  pen  to  be 


1  The  lower  loop  of  the  "g"  in  all  the  signatures  and  in  the  com- 
posites was  cut  off  in  j>rei>aring  Ww.  plafe. 


124  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

brought  into  normal  signature-writing  condition ;  and  es- 
pecially is  this  so  when  the  part  of  the  writing  we  are 
considering  is  accompanied  by  flourishes,  as  is  the  case. 
The  ''  G  W"  and  the  little  "  o''  and  the  dots  at  the  top 
were  the  prelude,  after  which  the  arm  was  moved  into 
position  to  write  the  main  body  of  the  signature,  or  the 
"  ashing."  Of  course,  from  the  manner  of  making  the 
dots,  and  the  extremely  small  space  they  cover,  their  re- 
inforcement of  each  other  in  the  composite  was  almost 
impossible,  and,  in  fact,  like  other  subordinate  characters, 
they  disappear  almost  completely.  The  "ashing"  is 
the  part  of  the  name  one  would  expect  to  exhibit 
the  greatest  amount  of  uniformity,  as  it  actually  does, 
with  the  exception  of  its  terminal  "g,"  which  shows 
more  variation  than  any  of  the  other  letters,  because 
at  this  point  the  limit  of  coincidence  between  the  tan- 
gent line  of  the  writing  and  the  curve,  of.  which  some 
part  of  the  right  forearm  was  the  radius,  had  been 
passed,  and  a  freer  movement  of  the  fingers  was  com- 
pensating for  the  increasing  divergence. 

The  fourth  separate  act  of  the  penman  was  the  formation 
of  the  "  ton"  after  changing  the  point  of  rest  of  the  arm. 
The  breadth  of  the  space  occupied  -by  these  three  letters 
is  from  0.75  to  0.87  centimeter  (0.29  to  0.33  of  an  inch), 
and  considerably  within  the  range  of  coincidence  of  the 
curve  and  tangent  line  of  writing  before  referred  to; 
owing  to  this  fact,  there  is  only  a  moderate  degree  of 
reinforcement  of  the  letters  in  the  composite,  because 
these  letters   might   fall   into  the  first   or  last  part  of 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  125 

the  five  centimeters  of  space  which  was  tlie  Hmit  of 
movement  with  a  fixed  elbow.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that 
even  in  this  case  the  middle  letter  of  the  three  is  darker 
in  the  composite  than  either  of  the  outside  letters.  The 
fifth  and  last  movement  was  the  flourish  which  dots  the 
"  i"  and  crosses  the  "  t"  by  one  stroke.  This  was  done 
in  the  freest  manner,  often,  as  it  seems  probable,  without 
resting  hand  or  arm  on  the  table  at  all.  Therefore  there 
is  no  coincidence  of  the  lines  in  this  part  of  the  com- 
posite, and  the  region  of  variation  is  wider  than  that  of 
any  other  part  of  the  signature. 

All  the  original  signatures  used  in  preparing  the 
accompanying  plate  (XL),  seven  in  number,  are  un- 
questionably genuine.  They  were  carefully  chosen 
from  a  number  of  authenticated  signatures  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  with  the 
exception  of  No.  2,  which  is  the  property  of  the  author. 

No.  1  is  on  a  letter  dated  December  18,  1776,  from 
near  the  Falls  of  Trenton,  and  addressed  to  Washington's 
brother  Samuel. 

No.  2  is  on  a  letter  dated  Head-quarters,  November 
4,  1777,  and  is  addressed  to  the  author's  great-grand- 
father, then  Lieutenant-Colonel  Persifor  Frazer,  and  a 
prisoner  of  war  in  Philadelphia. 

No.  3  is  on  a  letter  dated  September  27,  1777,  and  is 
to  William  Henry,  of  Lancaster. 

No.  4  is  the  composite  of  all  the  signatures  by  Gallon's 
process  of  using  one  sensitive  plate,  made  by  Mr.  W. 
Curtis  Taylor. 


126  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

No.  4a  is  the  composite  of  1,  3,  5,  and  8,  made  by- 
Mr.  Truscott,  who  photographed  the  superposed  positives 
on  celluloid  strips. 

No.  5  is  on  a  letter  dated  Head-quarters  in  Morristown, 
February  22,  1777.  The  person  to  whom  the  letter  was 
addressed  is  not  stated. 

No.  6,  dated  September  26,  1793,  is  affixed  to  the 
commission  of  David  Lenox. 

No.  7,  of  the  same  date,  is  affixed  to  David  Lenox's 
appointment  as  agent  for  the  relief  and  protection  of 
American  Seamen. 

No.  8,  May  24,  1799,  is  on  a  letter  to  Thomson  Mason. 


The  next  composite  is  made  from  a  number  of  genu- 
ine specimens  of  a  signature.  A  photograph  of  a  for- 
gery of  this  signature,  attached  to  a  document,  is  placed 
beside  it. 

The  copy  of  the  seal,  signature,  and  the  concluding 
lines  of  the  last  page  of  this  famous  document  has  been 
made  from  a  photograph  kindly  loaned  to  the  author 
for  that  purpose  by  the  late  Judge  F.  Carroll  Brewster ; 
the  original  document,  now  in  the  possession  of  the 
Register  of  Wills  of  Philadelphia,  having  been  too  much 
soiled  and  mutilated  to  furnish  a  satisfactory  copy. 

The  signature  affords  a  further  example  of  the  tremor 
of  fraud, — i.e.,  that  tremor  and  uncertainty  which  result 
from  the  slow  motion  of  the  pen  over  the  paper,  neces- 
sary to  a  hand  unaccustomed   to  writing   a  signature 


5^- 


I 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  127 

when  all  the  minute  details  visible  in  that  signature  must 
be  repeated.  Still,  it  would  have  been  hazardous  to  pro- 
nounce the  name  a  simulated  signature,  in  the  absence 
of  genuine  examples.^ 

Under  a  moderate  magnification  the  continual  changes 
in  the  pressure  of  the  pen  on  the  paper  and  the  con- 
stantly recurring  deviations  in  the  pen  mark  are  suffi- 
ciently manifest,  and  with  the  light  which  has  been  shed 
upon  the  history  of  the  forged  signature  it  is  impossible 
not  to  ascribe  them  to  their  proper  cause  :  but  in  the 
absence  of  such  light  it  would  be  claimmg  too  much  to 
profess  the  ability  to  discriminate  ahvays  between  the 
halting  and  uncertainty  due  to  fraud  and  that  due  to 
feebleness,  or  illiteracy,  or  other  unknown  cause. 

The  composite  of  the  name  was  obtained  from  five 
signatures  to  letters  written  long  before  the  period  of 
the  will  (1849-54).  Perhaps  among  the  voluminous 
testimony  taken  in  this  case  the  observation  may  be 
found  that  Mr.  Whitaker  had  adopted  the  habit  of 
writing  his  name  "  R.  Whitaker"  for  a  long  time  before 
the  date  of  the  will,  and  that  during  the  period  previous 
to  this  when  he  wrote  his  name  "  Robert  Whitaker"  he 
employed  a  final  "  r"  different  in  kind  from  that  attached 
to  the  will.  The  character  in  the  name  appears  clearly 
in  the  composite,  and  differs  from  that  in  the  signature 
entirely. 

'  An  allusion  to  the  tests  of  the  ink  of  the  alleged  Whitaker  will 
by  methods  devised  by  the  author,  but  since  then  often  applied,  will 
be  found  in  the  chapter  on  Chemical  Examination. 


128  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

Each  name  of  the  signature  was  photographed  sep- 
arately for  a  composite,  and  the  two  were  joined  by 
careful  measurement  of  the  relation  between  the  names 
in  the  genuine  signatures.  The  photographs  were  made 
by  Galton's  process  of  exposures  of  the  successive  ob- 
jects to  the  same  plate,  each  for  its  fraction  of  the  time 
necessary  for  complete  development. 

This  furnishes  a  good  illustration  of  the  pitfalls  await- 
ing the  forger,  who,  in  spite  of  his  cleverness,  usually 
leaves  evidence  of  his  unlawful  work. 

The  dragged  and  manipulated  appearance  of  the  tape 
may  be  compared  with  that  of  the  stretched  tape  shown 
in  a  previous  chapter,  while  a  close  inspection  will  reveal 
a  scratch  across  the  face  of  the  "  D"  on  the  seal,  which 
played  an  important  part  in  the  trial. 

Use  of  the  Composite. — When  the  composite  has 
t>een  made,  it  should  be  submitted  to  the  same  measure- 
ments as  the  separate  signatures,  though  it  will  not 
usually  be  found  so  tractable.  The  portions  of  great- 
est value  in  determining  the  elements  of  the  given 
handwriting  are  those  which  are  the  blackest,  because 
they  indicate  the  most  constant  routes  of  the  pen.  Jt 
is  more  difficult  to  measure  spaces  between  letters  in 
the  composite,  because  its  dark  kernel  is  broader  and 
less  well  defined  than  the  similar  parts  of  a  single  signa- 
ture, and  it  will  in  fact  often  cover  nearly  as  much 
paper  as  the  space  itself.  In  general,  wherever  a  column 
representing  the  measurements  of  the  same  element 
in   different   signatures   shows   large    variations   in   the 


PLATE    XIII. 


'S     ^-/^.r^x^^^' 


Composites  of  signatures. 


Portable  reagent  case. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  129 

numbers,  the  said  element  will  appear  in  the  composite 
as  a  broad  blur  or  as  a  number  of  distinct  lines. 

It  is  advisable  not  to  attempt  to  get  a  measurement 
thus  obscured  from  the  composite,  but  to  rely  for  the 
expression  of  its  average  on  the  numerical  mean  ob- 
tained by  measuring  individual  letters  or  distances  be- 
tween them.  In  Plate  XIII.  will  be  found  composites  of 
genuine  signatures  of  Isaac  Taylor,  George  W.  Hawley, 
and  Enos  V.  Garrett,  which  when  compared  with  the 
forgeries  of  their  names  (Fig.  11)  illustrate  the  use  of  the 
process  in  detecting  fraudulent  writing. 

The  signature  of  Thomas  J.  Morris  was  made  from 
twenty-seven  undisputed  examples  written  by  him  during 

Fig.  11. 


a  period  of  eight  or  ten  years.  The  agreement  in  these 
signatures  was  so  great  in  parts  of  the  name  as  almost  to 
amount  to  coincidence.  .  The  black  lines  without  blurs 
represent  the  ideal  of  the  writer's  signature  which  he 
never  attained  entirely  at  any  one  time,  and  the  blurs 
indicate  local  and  accidental  deviation  of  individual 
signatures  from  that  ideal. 

It  will  be  understood  from    what    has  been  already 

9 


130  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

said  that  the  measurement  of  the  composite  is  not  the 
only,  nor  perhaps  the  most  important,  aid  it  can  render. 
To  a  jury  it  furnishes  that  most  valuable  of  criterions, 
an  authentic  pattern  of  the  ideal  signature,  while  to  the 
expert  it  gives  the  kinds  of  variation,  their  distribution  in 
the  separate  letters,  and  their  limitations.  In  Table  I., 
p.  150,  the  agreement  of  the  numerical  and  the  graphic 
methods  and  of  both  with  a  previously  unrecognized 
genuine  signature  is  strikingly  shown. 


CHAPTER    XI I. 

QUANTITATIVE    METHODS. 

Insufficiency  of  Other  Methods.' — Up  to  the  present, 
the  means  suggested  for  the  examination,  of  documents 
have  been  qualitative,  and  the  results  have  been  at- 
tained by  impressions  on  the  senses,  which  at  most 
have  been  comparative.  This  signature  has  been  ob- 
served to  be  more  freely  written  and  the  other  more 
labored ;  one  Hne  has  been  observed  to  be  over  another ; 
one  ink  bluer  or  blacker  than  another  and  therefore  dif- 
ferent from  it ;  this  and  that  peculiarity  of  formation  of 
a  letter  or  word,  or  a  sentence,  is  or  is  not  found  in  both 
writings. 

Such  methods  serve  a  most  useful  purpose,  and  if 
many  of  them  point  to  the  same  conclusion  they  may 
succeed  in  carrying  conviction  to  the  mind,  as,  for  in- 


AND  DETECTION  OF   FORGERY.  131 

stance,  in  Chabot's  study  of  the  letters  of  Junius,  often 
before  referred  to.  But  they  have  the  disadvantage  that 
if  their  indications  are  contradictory  they  do  not  aid  in 
reaching  an  opinion,  and  necessarily  leave  out  of  consid- 
eration all  cases  which  in  themselves  are  inconclusive. 
If,  for  example,  it  be  desu-ed  to  compare  a "  genuine 
writing  with  one  in  dispute  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
the  differences  in  their  characteristic  features,*  by  what 
method  is  a  typical  signature  to  be  selected  ?  It  is  not 
uncommon  to  find  the  most  salient  feature  of  a  man's 
ordinary  signature  very  much  modified,  if  not  actually 
suppressed,  in  some  few  cases,  and  who  can  say  whether 
or  not  the  specimen  given  as  a  standard  is  one  of  these  ? 

If  a  search  be  made  through  a  series  of  undisputedly 
genuine  signatures,  it  will  be  found  that  one  character- 
istic fails  in  one  specimen  and  another  in  another. 

In  Jew  if  any  signatures  of  a  man  throughout  his  life  are 
all  the  features  which  combine  to  constitute  its  character 
present  at  one  time.  Under  these  circumstances  the  selec- 
tion is  an  arbitrary  proceeding. 

Is  there  any  way  which  can  be  adopted  to  overcome 
these  difficulties,  and  to  avoid  incompatible  indications 
while  making  use  of  all  the  material  which  can  be  pro- 
cured ? 

It  was  the  author's  conviction  that  such  a  way  could 
be  found  which  induced  him  some  years  ago  to  take  up 

*  An  act,  be  it  understood,  which  must  be  performed  in  the  pri- 
vacy of  the  expert's  study  or  laboratory. 


132  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

the  study  of  handwriting  separately  from  investigations 
of  the  materials  used  in  producing  it. 

The  introduction  of  the  experimental  method  into  all 
modern  investigation  (biology,  anthropometry,  psychol- 
ogy, etc.)  to  replace  disputatious  metaphysics,  and  the 
vague  indications  of  subjective  impressions,  led  to  the 
hope  that  in  this  difficult  subject  also  means  would  be 
found  to  apply  measurement  and  the  simpler  forms  of 
averages  and  ratios  as  well  as  the  mathematical  expres- 
sion of  probabilities.  That  such  treatment  of  the  subject 
is  in  the  interest  of  justice  hardly  needs  to  be  said.  As 
long  as  the  steps  by  which  experts  reach  their  conclu- 
sions are  assumed  to  be  so  intricate  or  recondite  that 
only  the  results  may  be  stated,  just  so  long  will  the 
character  of  expert  testimony  suffer  in  the  opinion  •  of 
the  public. 

METHOD    OF    AVERAGES    AND    RATIOS. 

Three  Postulates. — Three  postulates  may  be  safely 
laid  down. 

1.  Everything  capable  of  being  observed  is  capable  of 
being  measured,  provided  one  can  find  the  appropriate 
instruments  and  methods. 

2.  Where  similar  objects,  produced  under  variable 
conditions,  are  to  be  observed,  the  method  employed 
must  be  capable  of  separating  that  which  is  essential 
from  that  which  is  accidental ;  and  such  a  method  is  the 
determination  of  the  average  and  the  maximum  variation 
on  either  side  of  it. 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  133 

3.  The  determination  of  averages  with  limits  of  varia- 
tion is  appHcable  to  the  study  of  handwriting,  and  espe- 
cially of  signatures,  because  handwriting  is  a  result  of 
the  action  of  a  motor  (the  will)  on  a  machine  (the  bony 
structure  of  the  arm  with  its  particular  muscles,  etc.) 
attempting  to  reproduce  a  pattern  which  habit  has  grad- 
ually rendered  permanent  in  the  mind.  The  variations 
in  the  will-power  and  accidental  external  hinderances, 
such  as  a  bad  pen,  rough  paper,  lack  of  space,  etc.,  may 
modify  this  pattern  in  one  or  more  parts,  but  almost 
always  more  characteristics  will  remain  than  are  re- 
moved by  these  causes,  so  that  the  addition  of  every 
genuine  writing  to  a  number  of  other  genuine  writings 
Avill  raise  the  average  measurements  of  them  all  to  closer 
conformity  with  the  ideal  of  the  writer,  if  only  by  a 
little. 

Numerical  Average. — Instead  of  selecting  a  single 
writing  to  serve  as  a  pattern,  and  comparing  the  doubt- 
ful writing  with  this,  it  is  better  first  to  ascertain  the 
parts  of  the  genuine  writing  which  are  most  Avorthy  of 
measurement.  By  measuring  these  in  every  feature,  and 
taking  the  average  of  all  the  observations  of  each,  one 
gets  a  numerical  expression  of  each  feature,  which  is  near 
to  the  ideal  which  the  writer  always  strove,  but  with- 
out complete  success,  to  attain ;  and  the  approxima- 
tion will  be  in  inverse  ratio  to  the  variability  of  these 
features. 

This  method  is  adaptable  to  all  cases  where  the  num- 
ber of  authentic  examples  is  great  enough  to  giv^e  weight 


134  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

to  the  average  deduced  from  them,  and  may  be  called 
the  method  of  numerial  average. 

The  selection  of  the  characteristics  for  measurement 
will  shortly  be  considered. 

Ratios. — In  connection  with  the  method  of  obtaining 
averages  of  the  characteristic  features  of  a  number  of 
genuine  signatures,  and  of  comparing  these  averages  with 
the  similar  measurements  of  the  disputed  signature,  is 
the  deduction  of  a  ratio  or  proportion  between  the  lengths, 
heights,  angles,  etc.,  of  different  parts  of  the  genuine  sig- 
nature. Both  of  these  methods  will  be  explained  later. 
The  particular  value  of  ratios  of  parts  in  detecting  the 
genuineness  or  fraudulency  of  a  writing  lies  in  the  fact 
that  while  they  are  from  their  nature  unseen  and  unsus- 
pected by  the  forger,  they  are  most  likely  to  be  involun- 
tarily preserved  by  the  genuine  writer,  and  most  unlikely 
to  be  produced  by  any  other  hand. 

Measurements. — It  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference 
what  points  be  taken  in  measuring,  but  there  are  rarely 
any  entirely  devoid  of  significance,  and  the  more  numer- 
ous the  measurements,  the  greater  will  be  the  accuracy 
of  the  description,  and  the  larger  the  number  of  average 
agreements  or  disagreements  with  the  writing  in  dispute, 
depending  upon  whether  it  is  or  is  not  genuine.  In  se- 
lecting a  few  parts  of  words  or  letters  for  measurement, 
care  should  be  taken  that  they  be  not  too  near  together, 
or  of  a  kind  to  cause  one  to  suffer  from  the  distortion  of 
the  other.  Where  two  subjects  of  measurement,  for 
instance,  are  adjoining  letters,  the  abnormal  flattening  of 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  135 

one  will  be  likely  to  cause  the  same  in  the  other.  This 
makes  less  difference,  however,  if  a  large  number  of 
specimens  are  measured. 

Some  experience  in  this  work  will  suggest  the  lengths, 
breadths,  distances,  spaces,  heights,  and  angles  which  are 
most  characteristic,  or  likely  to  be  important.  Previous 
experience  in  the  office-work  of  topographical  surveying 
or  mechanical,  or  architectural  drawing,  will  be  a  valua- 
ble aid  to  the  student  of  handwriting.  Only  some  such 
experience  will  enable  him  to  overcome  the  difficulties  of 
dealing  with  coarse  and  irregular  ink  lines,  and  deter- 
mining their  beginnings  and  endings,  the  point  of  their 
greatest  extension  to  the  right  or  left,  and  their  general 
direction ;  for  they  are  usually  much  thicker  than  the 
lines  on  the  protractor  which  they  are  made  to 
join. 

It  is  not  uncommon  for  a  writer  to  adopt  some  pecu- 
liarity in  the  initial  of  the  first  name,  such  as  beginning 
it  much  above  or  below  the  line,  carrying  a  flourish  from 
its  last-written  part  to  surround  part  or  all  of  the  other 
letters,  etc. 

Attention  to  the  relative  sizes  and  angles  of  its  differ- 
ent parts  is  usually  rewarded  in  such  cases  by  discover- 
ing a  number  of  particulars  in  which  it  differs  from  spu- 
rious imitations.  However  carefully  their  writers  try  to 
carry  out  the  general  design,  these  letters  lack  the  ease 
and  dash  of  the  genuine  letters,  even  if  they  arc  more 
symmetrical  and  better  joined.  Leaving  such  peculiari- 
ties aside  to  be  examined  in  all  their  parts  under  a  strong 


136  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

magnifying  glass  or  the  compound  microscope,  it  is  always 
well  to  measure  the  height  and  breadth  from  easily  rec- 
ognized and  constant  features,  and  the  slope  (or  angle 
with  the  base-line)  of  the  straight  parts  of  the  letter  if  it 
have  these.  (In  such  letters  as  SfO/  ^^c,  this  latter 
measurement  is  generally  impossible.) 

After  the  examination  of  the  whole  series  of  undis- 
puted signatures,  some  well-marked  feature  on  the  first 
initial  letter,  or  the  next  following,  should  be  selected, 
the  representative  of  which  can  be  easily  found  on  all 
of  them,  and  from  this  initial  point  the  distance  to  simi- 
lar points  in  other  letters,  and  especially  to  some  similar 
point  as  near  as  possible  to  the  end  of  the  final  letter, 
should  be  measured.  The  distance  apart  of  some  of  the 
consecutive  letters,  and  the  breadth  of  the  spaces  be- 
tween the  letters  or  names  of  the  consecutive  words 
should  then  be  measured.  The  more  of  these  measure- 
ments, carefully  taken,  the  greater  will  be  the  accuracy 
of  the  conclusions  drawn  from  their  averages.  The 
more  important  features  or  elements  will  suggest  them- 
selves after  some  practice. 

It  has  been  the  habit  of  the  author  to  look  carefully 
over  the  writings  and  decide  upon  the  number  of  meas- 
urements of  length,  height,  and  angle  to  be  taken  ;  then 
to  rule  off  on  a  sheet  of  paper  a  number  of  columns 
equal  to  that  of  the  features  selected,  leaving  a  horizon- 
tal line  for  every  specimen  studied. 

In  this  way  the  numbers  corresponding  to  the  same 
parts  or  features  of  twenty  or  thirty  specimens  fall  into 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  137 

vertical  columns  and  can  be  readily  added  and  their 
mean  taken.  It  Avill  also  be  found  advantageous  to  keep 
together  the  measurements  of  horizontal  distance,  of 
height,  and  of  angles,  in  order  to  avoid  confusion. 

After  this  has  been  done,  and  the  means  or  averages 
placed  at  the  foot  of  the  columns,  the  specimen  or  speci- 
mens in  dispute  are  carefully  measured,  and  the  results 
set  under  these  averages,  but  leaving  an  intervening  line 
for  the  insertion  of  the  per  cent,  of  difference  between 
the  successive  pairs  of  values. 

Selection  of  Points — It  will  often  be  found  difficult 
to  select  the  point  from  which  to  begin  and  that  at  which 
to  end  a  measurement.  Uany  names  beginning  with 
rounded  letters,  like  (9^  S,  6,  etc,  usually  differ  in 
breadth  in  different  signatures  by  two  or  three  units  of 
the  scale  used,  and  the  peculiar  habit  of  writing  it  may 
make  any  letter  difficult  to  start  a  measurement  from. 
Wherever  a  flourish  or  other  habit  produces  a  crossing 
of  one  line  by  another,  such  crossing  is  generally  a  good 
point  from  Avhich  to  start,  more  especially  if  it  occur 
near  the  completion  of  the  letter,  because,  however 
erratic  the  general  appearance  of  a  letter  may  be,  its 
writer  will  insensibly  seek  to  begin  it  and  end  it  in  the 
same  way.  But  no  general  description  will  suffice  to 
indicate  in  all  cases  where  to  select  the  points  for  meas- 
urement. A  study  of  the  largest  number  of  undis- 
puted specimens  of  writing  will  most  probably  suggest 
to  one  of  some  experience  which  are  best,  and  if  these 
fail,  the  investigator  must  have  recourse  to  certain  gen- 


138  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING       • 

eral  principles.  For  instance,  it  is  safe  to  assume  tliat 
the  general  line  of  writing  is  governed  by  the  writer's 
habit  after  the  initial  letter  is  formed.  In  the  case  of  a 
blank  sheet  without  guide-lines  even  an  experienced 
writer  may  make  the  first  letter  in  a  very  different  rela- 
tion to  the  top  and  sides  of  the  sheet  from  that  which  he 
naturally  adopts  when  his  guide-line  is  furnished,  but 
after  this  first  letter  is  made  the  following  letters  will 
preserve  to  it  closely  the  normal  relation.  For  this 
reason  it  will  often  be  found  advisable  to  commence  the 
measurement  with  the  second  letter,  and  to  carry  the 
measurements  only  to  the  first  part  of  the  final  letter,  or 
to  the  letter  next  to  the  last,  to  avoid  the  frequent  dis- 
tortion of  the  latter  part,  due  to  preparations  for  the  end- 
ing, which  usually  contains  some  peculiarity  not  found  in 
the  same  final  letter  when  written  by  the  same  writer  in 
the  body  of  a  text. 

Angles. — After  all  the  characteristic  distances  be- 
tween the  selected  letters  have  been  measured,  the 
angle  or  slope  of  the  longer  letters  should  be  taken, — 

i.e.,  the  i^  d,  f,  ^,  k,  etc. 

The  advantage  of  this  is  that  the  slope  of  the  letters, 
besides  being  determined  by  the  natural  structure  of  the 
arm  of  the  writer,  and  his  or  her  habit  of  employing 
a  particular  point  of  it  for  a  pivot,  is  a  constant  not  so 
easily  appreciable  by  the  eye,  and  deviated  from  even 
by  expert  forgers  whose  attention  perhaps  is  more  fre- 
quently fixed  on  imitating  the  forms  of  the  letters  than 
on  their  inclination.     Of  course,  no  general  rule  can  be 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  139 

laid  down  as  to  the  usual  slope  in  these  long  letters,  but 
in  such  documents  as  the  author  has  measured  the  great 
majority  have  shown  the  angles  made  by  the  long  and 
straight  letters  with  the  actual  or  imaginary  guide-line  to 
be  forty-five  degrees  to  seventy  degrees  from  the  left  to 
the  right  upward.  Very  few  have  a  less  angle  with  the 
guide-line  than  forty-five  degrees,  and  though  there  are 
not  infrequent  cases  of  back-hand  writing  where  the 
slope  is  from  the  upper  loft  hand  downward  to  the  right, 
these  and  other  slopes  exceeding  seventy  degrees  are, 
on  the  whole,  more  unusual. 

Employment  of  Averages  obtained. — A  large  num- 
ber of  linear  and  angular  measurements  of  undisputed 
signatures  having  been  taken,  averages  of  all  are  ob- 
tained, and  these  averages  should  be  compared  with 
either  the  single  word  in  dispute,  or,  if  there  be  several  of 
them,  with  each  separately,  and  also  with  their  average. 

In  the  experience  of  the  author  a  difference  of  fifteen 
per  cent,  betw'een  the  two  constitutes  a  ground  for 
suspecting  the  genuineness  of  a  disputed  writing,  if  this 
amount  is  reached  or  exceeded  in  several  of  the  features 
measured,  and  the  writing  may  be  assumed  to  be  normal. 

A  difference  of  ten  per  cent,  from  the  average  in  sev- 
eral of  the  linear  measurements  of  two  genuine  Avords 
is  not  unusual,  and  five  per  cent,  difference  between 
the  angles  of  the  letters  with  the  horizontal  or  base  line 
is  not  inadmissible,  but  it  is  less  common  for  an  average 
of  a  number  of  genuine  Avords  to  differ  from  the  corre- 
sponding measurement  of  any  normal  genuine  word  by 


140  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

as  much  as  fifteen  per  cent.,  either  in  hnear  measure- 
ment or  in  angle,  though  individual  signatures  may  do 
so  from  each  other.  Of  course,  there  is  always  a  pos- 
sibility that  the  writer  may  have  written  the  word  or 
words  under  examination  unusually  large  or  small,  for 
some  good  reason.  In  such  cases  the  actual  measure- 
ments of  parts  will  differ  very  greatly  from  the  corre- 
sponding averages  obtained  from  genuine  signatures,  and 
the  employment  of  ratios  becomes  of  great  value,  because 
these  are  unaffected  by  such  increase  or  decrease  of  size. 

The  results  once  obtained  are  tabulated  and  placed  in 
columns  in  order  that  they  may  be  compared,  and  con- 
clusions drawn  from  such  comparison. 

In  certain  tables  cited  here  as  examples  of  the  method 
of  tabulating  the  results  of  an  investigation  of  hand- 
writing it  was  unnecessary  to  use  the  names  in  full.  They 
have  all  appeared  in  judicial  proceedings,  and  in  all 
cases  the  verdict  of  the  jury  was  in  accordance  with 
their  indications. 

Examples. — The  old  methods  employed  in  the  inves- 
tigation of  handwriting  for  the  purpose  of  identifying  the 
writer,  are  nowhere  so  fully  and  clearly  developed  as  in 
Twisleton's  book  on  the  Junian  letters,  alluded  to  in  the 
introduction. 

A  problem  of  this  kind  is  better  adapted  for  illus- 
tration in  a  treatise  on  methods  than  one  of  present 
interest,  where  prejudices  may  interfere  with  a  calm  dis- 
cussion, or  considerations  foreign  to  impartial  research 
may  obscure  the  issue. 


AND  DETECTION   OF   FORGERY.  141 

Mr.  Chabot,  the  eminent  English  expert,  whose  inves- 
tigation is  the  subject  matter  of  Mr.  Twisleton's  book, 
sums  up  the  results  of  his  extensive  and  complete  work 
as  follows  :  1.  There  are  nine  peculiarities  of  form,  slope, 
size,  and  junction  of  small  letters  common  to  the  writings 
of  Francis  and  of  Junius ;  2.  There  are  ten  habits  of 
dating,  signing,  punctuating,  enlarging,  and  using  capitals 
and  dashes,  etc.,  common  to  both  writings. 

^Ir.  Twisleton,  in  his  very  able  comments  on  Chabot's 
work,  asks  if  it  is  possible  that  these  nine  peculiarities 
and  ten  habits  should  exist  in  two  writings  by  different 
hands  ? 

The  answer  must  be  that  it  is  extremely  improbable, 
and  yet  none  but  the  most  superficial  of  all  the  charac- 
teristics of  handwriting  were  considered  by  Mr.  Chabot, — 
those  which  appeal  to  the  eye.  An  immense  amount  of 
time  and  money  have  been  expended  to  con\ince  the 
reading  public  of  the  truth  of  his  conclusion,  and  to  put 
it  in  possession  of  accurate  fac-similes  of  the  writings 
of  Sir  Philip  Francis  and  of  Junius.  This  latter  act  .of 
generosity  has  enabled  the  present  writer  to  apply  to 
the  solution  of  this  problem  one  of  his  own  methods 
which  deals  with  other  than  the  visible  peculiarities 
which  a  skilful  penman  might  imitate.  It  will  serve  as 
a  means  of  comparison  between  the  strength  of  conviction 
which  results  from  nineteen  minor  visible  and  superficial 
resemblances,  and  that  which  is  based  on  but  two  in- 
stances of  hidden  organic  structure.  If  it  were  seriously 
attempted  here  to  decide  the  main  question  at  issue,  the 


142  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

number  of  tests  would  have  been  increased.  One  of  the 
advantages  of  this  method  of  studying  handwriting  is  that 
this  can  be  done  almost  indefinitely. 

The  two  methods  stand  to  each  other  very  much  as 
the  ancient  and  modern  systems  for  classifying  animals. 
The  former  was  a  minute  description  of  the  external 
form,  and  the  color  and  other  visible  characteristics  of 
the  covering,  whether  bare  skin,  feathers,  hair,  or  scales. 
The  modern  classification  disregards  all  these  accessories 
as  a  means  of  determining  the  true  affinities  of  a  speci- 
men, and  relies  upon  the  parts  unseen  in  the  animal's 
life  ;  the  bony  structure,  the  mutual  relations  of  the  parts 
thereof,  and,  to  a  lesser  extent,  the  soft  parts  and  organs 
of  the  animal.  One  reason  for  this  latter  mode  of  classi- 
fication in  zoology  is  the  advantage  of  rendering  possible 
comparisons  between  the  extinct  and  living  species.  An 
analogous  advantage  in  grammapheny  is  the  detection  of 
the  same  agent  in  writings  widely  separated  in  date,  or 
made  under  greatly  varying  physical  conditions. 

It  will  be  readily  conceded  that  at  least  two  factors 
are  present  in  the  performance  of  an  act  which  is  often 
repeated.  One  is  the  general  similarity,  and  the  other 
is  the  variation  in  some  details  which  prevents  any  two 
acts  or  results  from  ever  being  exactly  identical.  These 
are  analogous  to  the  two  important  factors  of  the 
theory  of  Evolution,  called,  by  Charles  Darwin,  hered- 
itary transmission  and  accidental  variation.  In  order  to 
arrive  at  some  approach  to  an  ideal  standard  of  similar 
recurrent  actions,  it  is  necessary  to  eliminate,  so  far  as 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  143 

possible,  the  accidental  variations.  The  most  obvious  way 
to  do  this  is  to  take  the  average  or  mean  of  the  records 
of  a  number  of  such  actions,  for  in  this  the  influence  of 
the  accidental  variations  will  have  diminished  or  even 
disappeared,  and  only  the  essential  parts  of  the  act,  or 
the  results  which  portray  the  act,  will  remain.  Apply- 
ing this  to  handwriting,  the  first  object  in  grammapheny 
should  be  to  obtain  as  many  as  possible  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  a  word  which  an  individual  was  accustomed 
to  write,  as  free  as  possible  from  the  accidental  variations 
which  exist  in  each  single  example  of  it.  This  may  be 
done  automatically  and  graphically  by  composite  photog- 
raphy, in  a  manner  described  at  length  in  another  place ; 
or  by  separate  measurements  and  comparisons.  The 
first  method  has  the  advantage  of  taking  note  instantane- 
ously and  accurately  of  all  visible  features  of  the  word ; 
and  the  resulting  composite  will  accentuate  all  character- 
istics which  were  often  repeated,  and  suppress  in  a  blur 
those  which  were  accidental.  The  second  method,  or 
that  of  measurement,  it  is  true,  takes  account  of  but  an 
infinitesimal  fraction  of  all  the  visible  features  of  a  word, 
and  records  each  of  these  features  as  equal  to  so  many 
units  of  a  standard  measure.  It  also  obtains  the  averages 
of  these  values  in  the  genuine  writings  and  compares 
these  averages  with  measurements  of  corresponding  feat- 
ures from  writings  of  which  the  authenticity  is  not  estab- 
lished. 

Each  of  these  two  methods  has  its  advantages  and  its 
disadvantages.     The  advantage  of   the  graphic  method 


144  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

is,  as  has  just  been  said,  thai  it  omits  from  its  result  no 
visible  feature  of  the  thousands  or  millions  which  might 
be  selected  for  examination.  This  is  done  accurately,  in- 
stantaneously, automatically,  and  free  from  the  personal 
error  of  an  observer.  But  its  disadvantage  is  that  when 
the  ideal  word  of  the  writer  is  thus  obtained  it  is  simply 
an  image  to  the  eye  which  expresses  no  relation  to  the 
writing  with  which  it  is  to  be  compared,  except  that 
which  the  eye  can  appreciate ;  so  that  the  real  work  of 
comparison  must  be  begun  by  substituting  this  composite 
as  the  standard  specimen  of  genuine  writing.  Moreover, 
the  lines  of  the  composite  are  necessarily  thicker,  and  its 
angles  and  slopes  are  less  sharply  defined  than  those  of 
an  original  word,  and  therefore  more  difficult  to  measure. 
Finally,  it  is  expensive  and  often  impossible  to  procure  a 
properly  made  composite. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  an  offset  to  the .  comparatively 
few  component  parts  of  the  word  which  are  obtained  by 
the  second'  method,  one  reads  in  the  numbers  repre- 
senting the  averages  and  measurements  exact  statements 
of  fact  and  relation  to  the  word  with  which  it  is  to  be 
compared.  But  a  far  greater  advantage  than  this  is  the 
power  of  extracting  from  these  numerical  data  the 
i^elations  between  the  parts  of  a  word  or  of  a  part  to  the 
whole  word.  The  worst  that  can  be  said  against  it  is  that 
some  of  the  features  selected  for  measurement  may  not 
be  the  most  essential ;  and  if  the  number  of  genuine 
specimens  of  the  word,  from  which  averages  of  the  feat- 
ures are  calculated,  be  not  sufficiently  great,  it  might  hap- 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  145 

pen  that  too  many  corresponding  features  of  the  genuine 
words  would  show  large  divergences  from  those  averages. 

In  spite  of  this  theoretical  weakness,  however,  the 
method  lias  proven  itself  to  be  valuable  in  furnishing 
solutions  to  just  such  problems  as  that  which  Mr.  Cha- 
bot  undertook,  and  the  manner  of  its  application  will 
here  bo  shown. 

The  principle  involved  in  the  following  study  is  simply 
that  an  individual  accustomed  to  write  a  word  will  invol- 
untarily preserve  an  approximation  to  uniformity  in  the 
mutual  relations  of  all  the  parts  or  features  of  that  word 
and  not  merely  of  a  few  such  parts.  Though  he  may 
never  write  the  w'ord  twice  of  exactly  the  same  length, 
and  will  even  sometimes  purposely  shorten  or  lengthen 
it  for  special  reasons,  yet  he  cannot,  without  effort,  avoid 
making  approximately  the  same  proportions  of  lengths  of 
a  part  to  the  whole,  and  to  other  parts.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  the  heights  of  letters  (preferably  in  the  middle  of 
the  word)  to  the  length  of  the  whole  word.  The  writer 
does  this  more  accurately  than  the  most  expert  imitator, 
because  with  him  the  mental  model  is  present  and  the 
accommodation  of  the  muscles  to  produce  just  so  long 
a  word  for  so  great  a  height  of  letters,  etc.,  is  habitual. 

For  the  first  example  of  the  application  of  the  method 
just  described  I  have  selected  the  word  "  more,"  repeated 
thirty-six  times  each  by  Sir  Philip  Francis  and  Junius, 
and  photolithographed  in  the  first  four  columns  of  Plate 
G  of  Twisleton's  book. 

The  length  of  the  word  and  the  height  of  the  letter 

10 


146 


STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 


Study  of  the  Word  "  more,'^  as  written  by  Sir  Philip  Francis  and  Junius, 

by  the  Method  of  Measurements  and  Ratios.     The  Units 

are  0.0635  cm.  {one-fortieth  Inch). 


Sir  Philip  Francis. 

Junius. 

dif- 
Tom 
,tio. 

B 

o     >- 

B' 

o     ^ 

A 

B 

A 

A' 

B' 

A' 

Length  of 
word. 

Height  of 

Katio  of 

sgl 

Length 

Height 

Ratio  of 

"  0)  fl 

letter 

length  to 

n  ^5  cs 

of 

of  letter 

length  to 

"r." 

height. 

word. 

"r." 

height. 

22.0 

4.0 

0.181 

1 

15.5 

3.5 

0.225 

8 

21.0 

3.5 

0.166 

8 

14.0 

2.5 

0.173 

1 

21.5 

4.0 

0.186 

3 

12.0 

2.0 

0.166 

8 

21.0 

4.5 

0  214 

16 

15.0 

2.0 

0.133 

26 

21.5 

5.0 

0.232 

23 

14.5 

2.5 

0.172 

5 

19.0 

4.0 

0.210 

14 

13.5 

2.5 

0.185 

3 

22.5 

4.0 

0.177 

2 

15.0 

3.5 

0.233 

23 

21.5 

4.0 

0.186 

3 

15.5 

3.0 

0.192 

6 

22.0 

4.0 

0.181 

1 

16.5 

3.5 

0.212 

15 

20.0 

4.0 

0.200 

10 

14.0 

2.5 

0.178 

1 

25.0 

4.0 

0.160 

11 

12.0 

2.5 

0.208 

14 

24.0 

4.0 

0.166 

8 

19.0 

3.5 

0.184 

2     - 

20.0 

3.5 

0.175 

3 

15.0 

3.5 

0.233 

23 

23.0 

4.0 

0.174 

3 

21.0 

3.5 

0.166 

8 

21.5 

3.0 

0.139 

23 

15.0 

2.0 

0.133 

26 

29.0 

4.0 

0.138 

23 

15.0 

2.5 

0.166 

8 

22.0 

4.0 

0.181 

1 

15.5 

3.5 

0.161 

11 

22.0 

4.0 

0.181 

1 

15.5 

3.0 

0.193 

7 

23.0 

4.0 

0.174 

3 

10.0 

3.0    , 

0.300 

40 

26.0 

6.5 

0.250 

28 

13.0 

2.0 

0.146 

18 

24.0 

4.5 

0.187 

4 

14.0 

2.5 

0.179 

1 

22.5 

4.0 

0.178 

1 

13.0 

2.0 

0.146 

18 

22.0 

4.0 

0.181 

1 

15.5 

2.0 

0.129 

22 

18.5 

4.5 

0.243 

26 

13.0 

2.5 

0.192 

6 

19.0 

3.5 

0.184 

2 

14.0 

1.5 

0.107 

41 

25.5 

4.0 

0.158 

12 

13.0 

3.0 

0.230 

22 

27.0 

3.0 

0.111 

38 

14.0 

3.0 

0.214 

16 

19.0 

3.5 

0.184 

2 

14.0 

2.0 

0.142 

21 

22.0 

3.0 

0.136 

24 

14.0 

2.0 

0.142 

21 

19.0 

3.5 

0.184 

2 

17.0 

2.5 

0.147 

18 

20.0 

4.0 

0.200 

10 

14.5 

2.5 

0.172 

5 

25.5 

4.5 

0.180 

0 

13.0 

2.5 

0.192 

6 

19.5 

4.0 

0.205 

13 

13.5 

3.0 

0.222 

9 

20.0 

4.0 

0.200 

10 

12.5 

2.5 

0.200 

10 

20.0 

3.0 

0.150 

17 

11.0 

1.5 

0.136 

24 

24.0 

4.0 

0.166 

8 

12.0 

2.0 

0.166 

8 

Sum   .   .  795.0 

143.0 

514.5 

93.5 

Average    22.06 

3.94 

0.180 

14.29 

2..59 

0.182 

1 

Difference  of  ratios  -  and     ,  =  1  per  cent. 
A  A 


AND  DETECTION   OF   FORGERY. 


147 


Summary  of  Agreements  and  Difference!^  of  Ratios  of  Indimdval  Words 
from  Ratio  of  Means. 


Agreements  Close. 

Differences  Wide. 

5   . 
u  c 

11 

5  3 
a>  S  3 

Over         fifteen 
and         under 
twenty  -  three 
per  cent. 

-  o 
*^  P. 

o 

Sir  Philip  Francis  (thirty-six  specimens) 
Junius  (thirtj'-six  specimens) 

19 
16 

8 
5 

2 

8 

7 
7 

"  r"  have  been  measured  in  each  word,  and  averages  of 
these  measurements  for  each  series  of  thirty-six  exam- 
ples obtained.  The  ratios  of  the  averages  of  length  to 
height  in  the  two  series  are  found  to  agree  within  one 
per  cent.  (!). 

This  ratio  of  the  length  to  the  height  was  then  calcu- 
lated for  each  of  the  seventy-two  words  under  examina- 
tion, and  the  per  cent,  of  difference  was  noted  between 
each  result  and  the  ratio  of  the  averages  of  these  two 
elements  in  Sir  Philip  Francis's  writing,  which  were 
made  the  standards. 

From  a  table  embodying  these  results  it  appears  that 
in  Francis's  own  writing  (from  which  the  standard  was 
evolved)  nineteen,  in  Junius's  sixteen,  of  these  ratios 
differ  by  less  than  eight  per  cent,  from  the  standard.  In 
Francis's  eight,  in  Junius's  five,  differ  between  eight  and 
fifteen  per  cent. ;  in  Francis's  two  and  in  Junius's  eight 
differ  between  fifteen  and  twenty-three  per  cent. ;  and  in 


148  STUDY   OF   HANDWRITING 

Francis's  seven  and  in  Junius's  seven  differ  by  over 
twenty-eight  per  cent. 

The  principle  involved  in  this  kind  of  examination  is 
that  the  same  hand,  though  never  twice  writing  a  given 
word  of  exactly  the  same  size,  and  often  greatly  varying 
the  dimensions,  nevertheless  unconsciously  conforms 
more  closely  to  uniformity  in  the  relations  of  parts  to 
each  other  than  any  imitator  can ;  partly  owing  to  the 
model  which  is  before  the  genuine  writer's  mind,  and 
partly  to  the  habit  of  going  through  the  motions  which 
in  the  case  of  a  signature  becomes  almost  a  reflex  act. 
When  the  word  is  lengthened  or  shortened  the  heights  of 
letters  in  that  word  will  be  correspondingly  increased  or 
diminished.  This  unconscious  preservation  of  uniform 
proportion  will  pervade  all  parts  of  the  word,  or,  more 
properly  speaking,  it  is  equally  likely  to  pervade  every 
part,  whereas  the  effort  of  an  imitator  will-  infallibly  re- 
sult in  making  many  minor  parts  fail  to  retain  their  usual 
relations  to  each  other  and  to  the  whole  word,  while  he 
successfully  reproduces  one  or  two. 

A  further  exemplification  of  the  method  just  explained, 
is  taken  from  the  same  series  of  Francis-Junius  letters. 
The  subject  of  study  in  this  case  is  the  word  "  Woodfall," 
written  in  a  letter  by  Sir  Philip  to  Mackrabie,  June  12, 
1770 ;  and  by  Junius,  in  a  letter  dated  April  5,  1769. 

These  two  writings  of  the  name  of  Junius's  publisher 
look  as  little  as  possible  alike,  and  very  probably  would  not 
be  connected  by  the  old  methods  of  superficial  compari- 
son, but  when  they  are   each  carefully   measured  and 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY. 


149 


their  respective  ratios  of  parts  compared,  the  differences 
are  found  to  be  below  those  suggesting  a  different  penman. 
One  pecuUarity  of  the  results  of  this  analysis  is  not  easily 
explained :  viz.,  that  the  percentage  difference  between 
four  separate  ratios  of  the  Franciscan  and  Junian  words  is 
the  same, — six  per  cent.  .  It  would  seem  to  show  that  the 
peculiarities  which  Sir  Philip  adopted  when  writing  under 
the  pseudonym  were  maintained  with  quite  extraordinary 
uniformity,  as  well  as  the  peculiarities  of  his  natural  hand. 
It  should  be  remembered  that  differences  so  small  as  six 
per  cent,  are  negligible  as  errors  of  observation. 

Shuh/  of  the  Word  "Wood/all"  in  Writings  of  Sir  Philip  Francis  and 

Junius. 


Letters  of  Sir  Philip  Fran- 
cis and  Junius. 

Length  and  Height. 

Angle. 

Ratio. 

A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

A 
C 

A     A 
D      E 

A 

F 

Sir  Pliilip  Francis  to  Mack- 
rabie,  June  12, 1770. 

31 

3 

■1 

3.5 

3.5 

11 

50° 

50° 

7.75 

8.85 

8.85 

2.81 

Difference   Per  Cent,    be- 
tween Ratios. 

6 

6 

6 

6 

No.  1,  Junius  to  Woodfall, 
April  5,  1769. 

16.5j  1.5 

2     1.75,1.75;  5.5 

70° 

70°  8.25 

9.42 

9.42 

3 

The  parts  of  the  word  measured  were  as  follows  :  A,  Wto  final 
I;  B,  distance  between  lower  points  of  W;  C,  d  to  /,•  D,  /  to  a; 
E,  distance  between  the  fe  ;  F,  height  of  /;  G,  angle  of  first  stroke 
of  W ;  H,  angle  of  /. 

The  conclusion  from  the  results  of  the  last  as  well  as 
from  the  preceding  is  that  the  same  penman  wrote  the 
letters  of  Sir  Philip  Francis  and  of  Junius. 


150 


STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 


Example  2.  Employment  of  Angles  only. — In  the 
short  table  below  are  ten  columns  each  bearing  the 
record  of  the  inclination  in  degrees  with  the  horizontal 
of  some  part  of  a  letter  in  a  given  signature. 

The  first  line  gives  the  averages  of  measurements  in 
twenty  different  undisputed  signatures. 

The  second  line  gives  the  measurements  of  similar 
parts  of  a  disputed  signature. 

The  third  line  gives  the  measurements  of  similar  parts 
of  a  composite  of  all  of  the  genuine. 

TABLE  I. 

Degrees  of  Angle  on  the  Horizqntal  Line. 


Average    of    20 

signatures  .  . 

46.4° 

65.9° 

48.06 

30.42° 

60.79° 

52.25° 

45.20° 

55.65° 

46.05° 

45.55° 

Disputed  signa- 

ture (A)  .  .  . 

55° 

70° 

30° 

60° 

50° 

45° 

55° 

4.5° 

45° 

Composite  .  .  . 

50° 

68° 

50° 

32° 

60° 

50° 

4.5° 

55° 

45° 

4.5° 

The  question  at  issue  was  whether  or  riot  the  signa- 
ture was  genuine,  and  twenty  undisputed  signatures 
were  obtained  from  which  to  make  a  basis  of  compari- 
son. In  this  case,  for  particular  reasons,  only  angular 
measurements  were  taken.^  These  gave  the  average 
noted  at  the  foot  of  the  page.  The  same  elements  of 
the  disputed  signature  were  obtained  and  written  under 
these  averages.  The  agreement  was  so  close  as  to  jus- 
tify the  belief  that  the  disputed  signature  was  genuine. 

A  composite  photograph  was  then  made  of  the  twenty 


^  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  where  possible  other  than  measure- 
ments of  angles  should  be  employed. 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY. 


151 


signatures,  and  the  elements  of  the  composite  were  also 
measured.  The  agreement  of  these  with  those  of  the  dis- 
puted signature  was  extraordinary,  and  tends  to  show  the 
value  of  the  method  of  study  by  composite  photography. 
Ratios  of  Parts  of  a  Letter. — It  is  not  only  in  the 
ratios  of  parts  of  words  or  sentences  that  opportunity 
is  afforded  to  identify  the  writer  by  his  unconscious  ten- 
dency to  preserve  relations  which  are  hidden  from  the 
eye,  but  even  in  a  single  letter.  As  an  example  of  this, 
a  study  was  made  of  the  relative  lengths  of  the  tails  of 
a  number  of  ys  from  the  bottom  of  the  loop  to  the  junc- 
tion with  the  first  part  of  that  letter,  and  of  the  lengths 
from  the  bottom  of  the  loop  to  the  crossing  of  the  down 
stroke  by  the  up  stroke  of  the  tail.     The  annexed  table 


A 

B 

Letter  (Writer  known). 

Length  of 
tail  of  y. 

Length  from  lx)ttom 

of  tail  of  y  to 

crossing  of  loop. 

Page  I.,  line  12,  word  6,  letter  1 

Page  I.,  line   7,  word  2,  letter  4 

Page  I.,  line    7,  word  3,  letter  1 

Page  I.,  line    7,  word  3,  letter  9 

Page  I.,  line    8,  word  5,  letter  2 

Page  I.,  line  15,  word  2,  letter  5 

15.5 
17.0 
16.0 
21.0 
20.5 
15.5 

11.0 
9.0 
9.0 
11.0 
15.5 
8.5 

105.5 

61.0 

Divided  bv  6  —  average 

17.58 

10.66 

Ratio  A  to  B  (17.58  =  100) . 

100. 

60.9    (say  61) 

Ratio  A  to  B  (40.5  =  100) 
Divided  by  5  =  average 
Sum  of  below 


Anonymous  Letter. 

Page  L,  line  4,  word  4,  letter  1 
Page  I.,  line  6,  word  2,  letter  1 
Page  1.,  line  10,  word  1,  letter  1 
Pago  11.,  line  9,  word  5,  letter  1 
Page  ni.,  line    2,  word  4,  letter  1 


100. 
40.5 


38.0 
42.0 
41.5 
40.0 
41.0 


62.2    (say  62) 
25.2 


126.0 


28.0 
21.5 
26.0 
26.5 
24.0 


152  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

will  show  the  results.  The  first  six  lines  give  the  page, 
line,  word,  and  letter  of  the  specimen  from  a  known 
writing  which  was  measured.  The  last  five  lines  give 
similar  data  for  the  specimens  taken  from  an  anony- 
mous letter.  In  the  latter  case  the  additions,  averages, 
etc.,  are  added  and  recorded  upward,  so  that  the  results 
may  be  brought  into  comparison  with  the  similar  results 
of  the  first  table  which  are  brought  down.  The  agree- 
ment within,  practically,  one  per  cent,  is  strong  evidence 
of  the  identity  of  the  writer  of  both  letters. 

This  difference  of  ratio  is  very  small,  and  far  within 
the  error  of  observation. 

This  test  would  tend  to  show  that  the  tw^o  letters  were 
by  one  hand. 


CHAPTER    XII  I. 

"  GUIDED    HANDS." 

Character  of  such  Writing. — Cases  frequently  occur 
where  it  is  admitted  that  the  hand  of  the  person  who 
wrote  a  signature  was  guided  by  the  hand  of  some  one 
else. 

The  writing  produced  by  two  hands  conjointly  is 
usually  erratic,  and,  at  first  sight,  hard  to  connect  with  the 
handwriting  of  any  one  person.  In  appearance  it  changes 
abruptly  from  very  high  or  very  wide  to  very  low  or  very 
narrow  letters. 

Theory. — This  is  to  be  explained  by  the  non-agree- 
ment in  phase  of  the  impulses  due  to  each  of  the  two 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  153 

writers.  If  both  are  endeavoring  at  the  same  moment 
to  write  a  given  stroke  in  the  same  direction,  the  length  of 
that  stroke  will  be  measured  by  the  sum  of  the  impulses 
given  by  the  two  writers.  If  they  act  in  opposition  to  one 
another,  one  seeking  to  make  a  down  stroke  while  the 
other  is  trying  to  make  an  up  stroke,  the  result  will  be  a 
line  equal  to  the  difference  between  the  stronger  and  the 
weaker  force. 

As  these  coincidences  and  oppositions  occur  at  irregu- 
lar but  not  infrequent  intervals,  like  the  interference  and 
amplification  phases  of  light-  and  sound-waves,  the  result 
traced  on  the  paper  might  be  expected  in  advance  to  be, 
as  it  is,  a  distorted  writing  where  maxima  and  minima 
of  effect  are  connected  together  by  longer  or  shorter 
lines  of  ordinary  writing. 

The  tabular  statement  by  numerical  average  of  one  case 
will  be  shown  and  more  specifically  explained  elsewhere. 

Manner  of  Guiding. — The  usual  and  perhaps  only 
legitimate  reason  for  guiding  a  hand  executing  a  legal 
instrument  is  the  feebleness  or  illness  of  its  owner. 

When  such  assistance  is  required  it  is  usually  given  by 
passing  the  arm  around  the  body  of  the  invalid  or  other- 
wise incapacitated  writer,  and  supporting  the  writing 
hand  while  the  necessary  characters  are  being  made. 

Both  participants  in  this  action  are  looking  at  the 
writing,  and  both  are  thinking  of  the  next  letter  which 
must  be  written,  and  of  the  motion  of  the  pen  necessary 
to  produce  it.  Unless  the  executing  hand  were  abso- 
lutely lifeless  or  entirely  devoid  of  power,  it  would  be 


154  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

impossible  for  it  not  to  influence  the  guiding  and  pre- 
sumably stronger  hand ;  for  the  least  force  exerted  can- 
not fail  to  deflect  a  hand,  however  strong,  in  an  unnatu- 
ral and  cramped  position.  Nor  can  the  hand  of  the 
guider  fail  to  add  its  contribution  to  the  joint  effort, 
however  much  the  brain  which  controls  may  strive  to- 
render  it  entirely  passive.  Both  minds  are  busy  with  the 
same  act,  and  insensibly  both  hands  will  write  the  same 
letter  with  the  results  just  described. 

Analysis  of  Guided  "Writing. — Can  the  character- 
istics of  each  hand  be  separated  from  those  of  the  other 
and  the  relative  amount  of  the  two  contributions  to  the 
joint  signature  be  stated? 

From  the  comparatively  small  number  of  experiments 
made  by  the  author  in  this  direction  it  would  be  hazard- 
ous to  answer  it  by  an  unqualified  affirmative,  but  it 
may  be  said  that  some  of  the  characteristics  of  each 
hand  can  usually  be  made  apparent  by  the  system  of 
measurement,  and  the  indications  seem  to  point  to  the 
probability  of  an  increase  in  the  number  of  character- 
istics elicited  in  proportion  to  that  of  the  observations 
made.  If  the  significance  of  every  part  of  every  stroke 
could  be  properly  interpreted,  a  complete  separation  of 
characteristics  might  be  effected,  but  this  would  require 
an  indefinitely  large  number  of  observations  and  a  quite 
unattainable  skill  in  explaining  them. 

Example.— Table  II.  contains  the  data  of  the  study 
of  a  disputed  signature. 

Columns  one  to  thirteen  inclusive  refer  to  measure- 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY, 


155 


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156  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

ments  between  certain  selected  parts  of  letters,  heights 
of  letters,  etc. 

Columns  fourteen  to  nineteen  inclusive  include  an- 
gular measurements  of  parts  of  letters. 

The  first  thi-ee  horizontal  lines  represent  a  name  at 
the  commencement  of  a  will,  the  same  name  as  a  sig- 
nature, and  an  average  of  their  combined  measurements. 
The  following  eleven  horizontal  lines  contain  correspond- 
ing measurements  of  as  many  undisputed  signatures, 
with  their  averages  in  the  lowest  line.  The  disagree- 
ment, in  many  characteristics,  between  the  measurements 
of  the  authentic  signatures  and  the  measurement  of  the 
signature  at  the  end  of  the  document,  and  their  close 
agreement  in  others,  strikes  the  eye  at  once.  The  vari- 
ous grades  of  approach  from  close  approximation  or  iden- 
tity of  measurement  to  wide  divergence  would  lead  one  to 
suspect  the  cause  to  have  been  periodical. perturbation  of 
a  normal  hand,  and  this  view  is  strengthened  when  one 
compares  the  numbers  representing  the  successive  meas- 
urements of  the  elements  of  the  disputed  signature  with 
the  corresponding  numbers  of  the  undisputed  series. 

In  columns  three,  six,  and  sixteen  the  measurements 
of  the  signature  agree  fairly  well  with  the  averages,  but 
in  seventeen,  eighteen,  and  nineteen  (all  angles)  the  sig- 
nature shows  the  widest  discrepancies  when  compared 
with  the  averages  of  the  larger  series. 

There  are  too  many  approximations  between  the  two 
to  render  it  probable  that  the  signature  was  made  en- 
tirely independently  of  the  hand  which  made  the  lower 


PLATE    XIV. 


II.  Group,  b 


III.  Grou] 


IV.  Grouii.  b 


V.  Group.  I 


VI.  Group,  h 


VII.  Group,  h 


VIII. 


Eiglit  experiments  representing  progressive  influcnee  of  one  hand  upon  the 
otlier  in  guided  handwriting. 


AND  DETECTION   OF   FORGERY.  157 

series,  and  yet  the  wide  divergences  in  a  large  number 
of  the  components  investigated  show  that  another  force 
was  modifying  the  first.  It  had  the  appearance  of  a 
guided  hand,  and  this  appearance  was  further  confirmed 
wlieii  analysis  showed  that  several  elements  in  the  dis- 
puteti  signature  differed  radically  from  about  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  instances  of  the  same  elements  in 
the  genuine  writing  of  the  hand  which  was  suspected  of 
having  forged  it,  while  agreeing  very  closely  with  those 
in  the  undisputed  signatures  of  the  person  whose  name 
was  attached  to  the  will.  This  method  supported  the 
view  (which"  was  afterwards  corroborated  by  direct  testi- 
mony) that  the  suspected  signature  was  produced  by  the 
hand  of  the  person  whose  name  it  indicated,  guided  by 
the  hand  suspected  of  forging  it. 

These  tables  are  introduced  for  the  purpose  of  show- 
ing the  system  by  means  of  which  the  separate  obser- 
vations are  recorded,  combined,  and  employed. 

Plate  XIV.  and  Tables  III.  and  IV.  illustrate  an  experi- 
ment in  this  direction.  The  supposititious  name  "  Edwin 
S.  Barley"  was  selected,  and  two  persons,  A  and  B, 
practised  writing  it  for  some  time,  in  order  to  attain  some 
facility,  at  least  remotely  resembling  that  which  every 
one  has  in  writing  his  own  name. 

In  addition  to  this,  the  name  was  chosen  to  agree  very 
nearly  with  the  real  name  of  the  person  whose  hand 
was  guided  (Edwin  S.  Bailey),  so  that  the  habits  ho  had 
acquired  in  writing  his  own  would  be  transferred  largely 
to  the  fictitious  signature. 


158 


STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 


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AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY. 


159 


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160  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

In  Experiment  I.,  Plate  XIV.,  the  name  was  written 
freely  by  A.  In  the  group  of  three  experiments,  II.,  a, 
6,  and  c,  B  supported  the  elbow  of  A  while  the  latter 
wrote  the  name ;  both  A  and  B,  however,  in  this,  as  in 
all  but  the  first  and  last  experiments,  together  kept  their 
attention  fixed  upon  the  writing. 

In  the  group  of  three  experiments.  III.,  a,  6,  and  c,  the 
middle  of  the  forearm  of  A  was  grasped  by  B. 

In  the  Group  IV.,  a,  6,  and  c,  the  forearm  was  grasped 
and  supported  immediately  behind  the  wrist. 

In  the  Group  V.,  o,  6,  and  c,  the  wrist  itself  was 
grasped  and  supported,  and  its  motion  largely  hindered. 

In  the  Group  VI.,  a,  6,  and  c,  the  hand  itself  was 
tightly  grasped,  the  wrist  motion  entirely  prevented,  and 
only  the  fingers  and  the  arm  left  free  to  move. 

In  VII.,  a,  6,  and  c,  the  hand  and  fingers  were  tightly 
held  and  free  motion  only  allowed  to  the  arm. 

In  VIII.,  B  wrote  the  name  without  assistance  or  inter- 
ference from  A. 

The  signature  was  then  examined,  and  seventeen 
features  selected  for  measurement,  which  are  indicated 
at  the  heads  of  the  seventeen  columns  ruled  on  the 
paper. 

The  first  seven  columns  refer  to  horizontal  distances 
in  millimeters  between  certain  parts  of  letters.  The  suc- 
ceeding five  columns  give  the  heights  of  as  many  letters 
selected  from  the  rest,  because  it  was  thought  that  they 
would  give  more  significant  indications  as  to  character. 

The  last  five  data  refer  to  angles  with  the  horizontal, 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  161 

or  the  inclinations  of  the  letters  to  the  horizontal  lino  on 
which  they  were  written. 

To  prevent  the  error  which  would  be  likely  to  result 
from  considering  but  one  series  of  measurements 
for  each  of  the  seven  cases  just  described,  all  but  the 
first  and  last  were  repeated  three  times,  and  the  averages 
of  these  triple  measurements  were  taken  as  single 
observations  and  compared  ^vith  each  other  and  with  the 
single  signatures  at  the  commencement  and  the  close. 

The  resulting  figures  are  complicated,  but  in  general 
they  show  the  greatest  divergences  from  the  type  fur- 
nished by  each  of  the  experimenters  in  the  middle  spaces 
III.,  IV.,  v.,  and  VI.,  or  where  the  motions  of  both  A 
and  B  were  least  restricted ;  and  the  least  divergence  in 
the  spaces  nearest  to  the  type  signatures. 

Summary. — If  the  average  of  Experiment  VII.  (Table 
III.)  be  compared  in  numerical  results  with  that  of  the 
free-hand  Experiment  VIII.,  it  will  be  seen  that  about 
half  of  the  results  differ  by  less  than  fifteen  per  cent. 

To  be  more  accurate,  they  are  as  follows,  counting  the 
seventeen  columns  from  left  to  right:  0.11,  0.17, 
0.33,0.04,  0.22,  0.006,  0.019,  0.011,  0.31,  0.30,  0.002, 
0.015,  0.32,  0.78,  0.14,  0.27,  0.15.  Eight  out  of  the 
seventeen  results  differ  by  fifteen  per  cent.,  or  loss, 
whereas  the  results  in  the  middle  space  III.,  IV.,  and 
V.  differ  in  almost  every  case  by  much  more  than  fifteen 
per  cent.,  which  has  been  arbitrarily  assumed  as  the  maxi- 
mum variation  to  be  generally  allowed  between  any 
genuine  signature  and  the  average  of  a  number  of  such. 

11 


162  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

Table  IV,  gives  only  the  averages  mentioned  on  Table 
III.,  omitting  the  separate  measurements  for  the  purpose 
of  obtaining  greater  simplicity. 

The  greatest  differences  between  Series  VII.  and  VIIL 
are  found  in  the  angles  representing  slopes  of  the  letters 
or  inclinations  to  a  horizontal  line. 

This  is  an  additional  instance  of  the  value  of  this  ele- 
ment (angle)  in  determining  normal  signatures. 

Evidences  of  the  Action  of  Two  Hands  in  Joint 
Signature  Marks. — If  it  be  conceded  that  the  effect  of 
a  given  individual's  will  on  that  individual's  mechanism 
of  bones,  muscles,  nerves,  etc.,  with  which  it  has  been 
associated  in  all  acts  of  the  possessor  of  both,  results  in 
the  production  of  a  script  characteristic  of  that  individual 
and  of  no  other,  it  ought  to  follow  that  whatever  be  the 
pattern  traced,  whether  a  simple  cross  or  a  more  com- 
plex series  of  conventional  signs  as  in  handwriting,  it 
should  contain  the  characteristics  of  the  writer.  In  the 
case  of  a  simple  cross,  these  characteristics  are  much 
more  difficult  to  discover  than  in  that  of  ordinary  writing 
or  name-signing,  but  that  they  exist  no  one  will  deny  who 
has  taken  into  consideration  the  invariable  tendency  of 
man  to  contract  habits  in  the  performance  of  all  acts 
which  he  repeats  during  a  long  period,  and  the  growth 

Note. — Whether  or  not  it  be  considered  estaWished  that  with  care 
the  elements  of  each  handwriting  can  be  proven  in  the  guided  sig- 
nature, it  is  premature  to  affirm,  as  has  been  done  in  the  local 
press,  that  "it  is  impossible  for  a  person  holding  another's  liand 
to  infuse  the  character  of  the  guider's  hand  into  the  writing." 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  163 

of  a  habit  from  constantly  taking  the  easiest  method 
under  existing  conditions  to  accomphsh  what  the  will  has 
commanded. 

The  fact  that  simple  marks,  made  by  persons  ignorant 
of  the  art  of  writing  or  deprived  of  some  organ  or  fac- 
ulty possessed  by  the  majority  of  their  race,  contain 
characteristics  of  the  individuals  who  make  them,  is  a 
logical  sequence  of  the  principles  of  grammapheny,  and 
is  susceptible  of  actual  demonstration. 

It  is  not  the  object  here  to  treat  of  marks  of  this  kind, 
but  of  those  which  are  made  by  one  person  while 
another  touches  the  penholder. 

If  great  difficulties  are  encountered  in  dealing  with 
ordinary  writing,  the  difficulties  in  those  of  this  kind 
are  vastly  greater  and  might  well  be  considered  insur- 
mountable in  so  far  as  the  problem  involves  the  estab- 
lishment of  individual  character  from  the  traces  of  resist- 
ance to  free  pen  movement  observable  in  the  joint  mark. 

The  author  speaks  thus  cautiously  of  the  possibility  of 
establishing  the  characteristics  of  one  person  from  the 
traces  of  his  interference  with  the  free  work  of  the  actual 
holder  of  the  pen — a  problem,  comparing  the  very 
small  to  the  very  great,  analogous  to  the  determination 
of  the  orbit  and  mass  of  an  unknown  planet  from 
the  effect  of  the  latter  on  the  movements  of  a  known 
planet — because  it  is  not  possible  to  state  how  far  legiti- 
mate investigation  may  be  extended  in  the  future  by  new 
devices  and  larger  knowledge. 

For  the  present  he  leaves  this   question   untouched, 


164  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

admitting  that  the  chances  seem  against  its  ever  being 
successfully  solved,  and  addresses  himself  to  the  less 
complex  question,  "  Can  a  mark  made  by  one  person 
while  another  is  touching  the  penholder,  be  distinguished 
from  •  a  mark  made  freely  and  without  external  hinder- 
ance  ?" 

Without  theorizing,  the  subject  can  best  be  introduced 
by  the  statement  of  an  actual  investigation  of  marks 
which  were  made  by  a  certain  man  while  the  penholder 
was  touched  by  a  blind  woman. 

The  simple  question  was  whether  or  not  the  marks 
attached  to  certain  documents  were  made  while  the 
hands  of  two  persons  touched  the  same  penholder. 

By  a  cursory  examination  of  the  signature  marks  of 
some  documents  (of  which  the  genuineness  was  dis- 
puted) with  the  signature  marks  admitted  as  genuine 
joint  marks,  a  notable  difference  was  observable. 
Whereas  the  former  appeared  well  formed  and  shaded, 
and  gave  evidence  of  having  proceeded  from  a  hand 
skilled  in  the  use  of  the  pen,  the  latter  were  ill  formed 
and  ragged,  neither  symmetrical  nor  indicating  the  free 
movement  of  an  experienced  writer.  The  lines  of  the 
admitted  signature  marks  were  thin,  and,  especially  the 
cross  stroke  (which  was  drawn  from  the  upper  left  hand 
to  the  lower  right  hand),  longer  than  the  similar  lines  in 
the  disputed  signatures.  But  this  superficial  observation, 
while  plainly  indicating  differences  between  the  disputed 
and  undisputed  signatures,  failed  to  establish  their  re- 
spective degrees  of  importance. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  165 

Before  further  study  an  examination  was  made  of  a 
list  of  twenty-odd  names,  among  -which  was  what  was 
claimed  to  be  an  unauthorized  and  fraudulent  signature- 
cross,  and  the  latter  was  correctly  identified  with  the 
writing  of  one  of  the  names.  The  inclination  of  the  lines 
and  the  spread  of  the  pen-nibs  corresponded  so  closely 
in  the  two  cases  that  the  careful  measurements,  which 
were  immediately  undertaken,  were  not  needed  to  reveal 
the  identity  of  the  writers.  This  preliminary  conclusion 
having  been  corroborated,  a  meeting  with  the  persons 
who  made  the  joint  marks  was  arranged  in  order  that 
their  method  of  proceeding  might  be  witnessed. 

As  there  was  a  difference  of  statement  between  the 
two  as  to  this  method,  specimens  were  taken  under  the 
conditions  described  by  each. 

The  blind  woman  insisted  that  she  grasped  the  top  of 
the  pen  firmly.  The  guider  of  the  pen  maintained  that 
his  collaborator  merely  touched  the  top  of  the  pen  lightly 
while  he  wrote. 

Joint  marks  were  made  by  the  two  persons  under  ob- 
servation, and  were  carefully  measured  and  tabulated. 
Similar  measurements  were  made  of  other  admitted  and 
disputed  signature  marks  and  similarly  tabulated. 

The  measurements  were  divided  into  those  of  length 
and  of  angles,  with  scrutiny  of  the  manner  in  which  each 
stroke  began  and  ended.  The  bearing  of  this  latter 
feature  upon  the  question  of  single  or  joint  production 
was  obvious,  because  with  a  foreign  hand  touching  the 
penholder  ever  so  lightly  those  movements  which  de- 


166  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

pended  upon  the  exercise  or  release  of  slight  pressure 
could  be  produced  only  in  a  very  imperfect  manner. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  call  attention  to  the  method 
of  utilizing  the  results  of  such  tables  as  are  here  given, 
which  seems  to  be  important  in  proportion  to  the  diver- 
sity and  complexity  of  the  factors  which  enter  into  them. 
The  extraction  of  information  from  tables  of  statistics 
is  frequently  more  difficult  than  the  procuring  of  the 
statistics  themselves.  Let  any  one  attempt  to  master, 
say,  the  significance  as  life  insurance  tables  of  the  necro- 
logical  reports  of  the  cities  and  of  the  country  at  large, 
and  he  will  appreciate  the  value  of  the  art  of  Mrs.  Glass 
after  the  hare  is  caught. 

In  general,  the  effect  of  minor  components  of  com- 
posite forces  are  more  clearly  distinguished  when  the 
ratios  of  parts  to  each  other  and  to  the  whole  are  con- 
sidered. It  is  true  that  this  method  of  presentation  is 
open  to  the  objection  that  it  magnifies  very  small  differ- 
ences, but  on  the  other  hand  it  clearly  distinguishes  cases 
which  have  resulted  from  closely  similar  conditions. 
The  most  important  information  is  obtained  from  a  table 
representing  the  ratio  to  each  other  of  columns  in  the 
original  table,  and  the  percentages  of  difference  between 
measurements  of  objects  whose  origin  is  unknown  or  in 
doubt  from  those  of  similar  objects  whose  origin  is 
known.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  full  force  of  effects 
produced,  as  in  this  case,  by  the  resistance  of  a  hand 
touching  a  moving  penholder  may  be  made  manifest, 
as  the  tables  showed. 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  167 

When  this  work  had  been  done,  further  experiments 
in  joint  signature  marks  by  various  persons  were  under- 
taken, in  order  that  the  conditions  pecuHar  to  the  above 
case  might  be  replaced  by  gencraUzations  useful  in  a 
wider  field  of  inquiry. 

With  this  view  over  three  thousand  five  hundred 
marks  were  produced  and  examined,  and  the  table  which 
follows  gives  the  percentages  of  the  occurrence  of  various 
features  in  the  free  and  in  the  joint  marks  respectively. 
The  varying  per  cent,  of  exceptions  in  the  results  indi- 
cate different  degrees  of  uniformity  in  the  occurrence 
or  absence  of  a  given  characteristic  in  a  mark.  Ob- 
viously, any  feature  to  which  there  are  but  few  ex- 
ceptions in  the  three  thousand  five  hundred  experiments 
is  of  importance.  The  only  feature  discovered  in  these 
observations  to  which  there  was  no  exception  was  the 
existence  of  ragged  margins  in  some  part,  and  usually 
throughout  the  greater  part,  of  a  joint  mark.  When  a 
mark  is  entirely  free  from  such  an  appearance,  therefore, 
it  may  be  assumed,  with  a  strong  degree  of  probability, 
that  it  has  not  been  subjected  to  the  influence,  however 
slight,  of  more  than  one  hand. 

In  the  following  summary,  the  letters  R.  U.  mean 
right  upper,  and  L.  D.  mean  left  downward.  R. 
U.  L.  D.  means  the  stroke  made  from  right  to  left  and 
from  above  downward.  L.  U.  R.  D.  means  the  stroke 
from  left  to  riglit  and  from  above  downward.  Proceed- 
ing from  the  right  upper  side  in  the  direction  of  the 
sun  or  of  tlic  hands  of  a  watch,  the  four  quadrants  are 


168  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

designated  by  R.  U.,  R.  D.,  L.  D.,  and  L.  U.,  respec- 
tively. 

SUMMARY    OF  NOTES  OF  THE   ABOVE   CASE. 

A  B 

UNDISPUTED  JOINT   MARKS.  DISPUTED. 

1.  R.  U.  L.  D.  not  convex  to  R.  D.  1.  R.  U.  L.  D.  convex  to  R.  D. 

2.  Lines  do  not  broaden  in  the  direc-  2.  Lines  broaden  in  the  direction  in 

tion  in  which  drawn.  which  drawn. 

3.  One,  and  usually  both,  of  the  mar-       ?..  One,    and    usually    both,    margins 

gins  of  the  lines  are  crooked  and  straight.    Crookedness  not  contin- 

irregular  :  one  continuously  so.  uous  on  either  margin. 

4.  In  all  genuine  cases  examined  R.  U.        4.  In  sixty-six  per  cent,  of  cases  exam- 

L.  D.  was  shorter  than  L.  U.  R.  D.  ined  R.'U.  L.  D.  was  longer  than 

L.  U.  R.  D. 

In  three  thousand  five  hundred  independent  examina- 
tions of  experimental  marks  made  either  by  one  in- 
dividual or  by  the  joint  efforts  of  various  couples, 
there  v^^ere  found  to  be  ten  per  cent,  of  exceptions  to 
A  1,  two  per  cent,  of  exceptions  to  A  2,  but  no  exceptions 
to  A  3. 

A4  varied  so  much  with  the  writing  habits  of  different 
individuals  that  it  is  not  regarded  as  of  sufficient  value  to 
serve  as  a  basis  of  discrimination. 

It  should  be  noticed  that  the  usual  absence  of  strokes 
convex  to  R.  D.  would  naturally  follow  from  the  situation 
of  the  point  of  resistance  when  the  pen  is  held  in  the 
position  which  some  writing-masters  call  "  natural,"  or 
slanting  downward  from  left  to  right  and  pointing  over 
the  right  shoulder. 

In  this  position,  to  make  a  stroke  R.  U.  L.  D.  convex  to 
R.  D.  would  require  that  the  weight,  added  by  contact  of 


PLATE    XV 


.»»k<**;9|||^*«--    •■^' 


,'ODl<*'' 


i 


1,  Larger  cross  containing  eviflence  of  the  touching  liya  second  liand  of  the  penholder  used 
by  the  writing  hand. 

2,  Smaller  cross  in  wliidi  no  evidence  of  the  action  of  two  hands  appears. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  169 

the  second  hand,  should  be  lifted,  because  in  the  act  of 
drawing  such  a  line  the  penholder  must  be  changed  to  a 
more  erect  position,  and  the  distance  between  the  plane 
of  the  paper  and  that  parallel  to  it,  in  which  the  top  of 
the  penholder  lies,  would  be  increased.  In  drawing  the 
line  concave  to  R.  D.  this  distance  would  be  diminished, 
and  there  would  be  no  resistance  to  overcome. 

The  illustration  on  Plate  XV.  is  fairly  typical  of  the  re- 
spective characters  of  joint  pen  marks  made  while  two 
hands,  touch  the  penholder  (as  in  the  larger  cross)  and 
marks  made  freely  by  a  single  hand  (in  the  smaller 
cross). 

Both  have  been  selected  from  the  specimens  of  hand- 
writing examined  in  the  case  above  referred  to.  It 
should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  positions  of  these  two 
crosses  relatively  to  the  horizontal  guide  line  are  not  in- 
dicated here,  the  two  crosses  having  been  arranged  in 
such  a  way  as  to  be  included  on  a  single  plate.  The 
angle  made  by  each  stroke  of  a  cross  with  the  horizontal 
guide  line  is  of  considerable  importance  in  assisting  one 
to  ascertain  the  identity  of  the  writer,  because  the  direc- 
tions of  these  lines  are  governed  by  the  writer's  physical 
structure  and  peculiarities  of  will  and  muscular  power ; 
which,  together  with  the  original  model  in  the  writer's 
mind,  produce  the  result  which  habit  makes  permanent. 
The  crosses  examined  showed  clearly  the  difference  be- 
tween marks  made  by  the  joint  action  of  two  hands  and 
those  by  a  single  unhampered  hand. 

All  the  lines  are  considerably  blurred  owing  to  the 


170  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

uneven  absorption  of  the  ink  by  the  adjacent  parts  of 
the  paper  and  also  to  the  fact  that  the  crosses  were  too 
hastily  blotted  after  having  been  drawn,  and  the  photo- 
graph magnifies  these  defects.  For  this  reason  the  long 
lines  in  the  plate  are  not  sufficiently  distinct  to  enable 
one  to  form  an  accurate  judgment  as  to  the  crookedness 
of  their  lateral  margins.  It  will,  however,  be  conceded 
that  of  the  four  marginal  edges,  those  of  the  broader  line 
in  the  large  cross  are  much  more  irregular  than  those  of 
the  broader  line  in  the  smaller  cross. 


PART  III. 
PLASSOPHENY. 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

KINDS    OF    FORGERIES. 

A  FORGERY  consists  either  in  erasing  from  a  document 
certain  marks  which  existed  upon  it,  or  in  adding  others 
not  there  originally,  or  in  both  operations,  of  which  the 
first  mentioned  is  necessarily  antecedent  to  the  last ;  as 
where  one  character  or  series  of  characters  is  substituted 
for  another. 

The  removal  of  characters  from  a  paper  is  effected 
either  by  erasure  (seldom  by  pasting  some  opaque  ob- 
ject over  the  characters,  painting  over  them,  or  affixing 
a  seal,  wafer,  etc.,  to  the  spot  where  they  existed),  or  by 
the  use  of  chemical  agents  with  the  object  of  dissolving 
the  writing-fluid  and  affecting  the  underlying  paper  or 
parchment  as  little  as  possible. 

The  essential  idea  in  a  forgery  is  that  it  gives  a  false 
impression  either  (a)  to  the  reader,  by  the  information  it 
conveys,  or  (6)  to  the  general  observer  as  to  its  origin 
or  relation  to  other  things.  The  forgery,  if  falling  under 
the  first  of  these  divisions,  may  be  accomplished  either 

171 


172  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

(1)  by  an  erasure  from  or  addition  to  an  original  record, 
whereby  its  original  meaning  is  changed,  or  (2)  by  both 
methods  together.  In  the  second  category  belong  those 
frauds  relating  to  authorship  and  age  which  have  been 
frequent  from  the  earliest  history  of  written  records. 

Plassopheny  is  chiefly  concerned  with  the  first  class : 
the  suppression  of  a  "  not,"  thus  giving  an  affirmative 
instead  of  an  intended  negative ;  or  the  addition  of  a 
cipher  changing  120  to  1200,  are  types  of  this  class  of 
falsifications. 

The  second  class  comprises  the  interpolation  of  chap- 
ters, verses,  sentences,  or  words  into  the  manuscripts 
of  authors,  as  Eusebius  is  charged  with  garbling  the 
history  of  Josephus,  and  many  anonymous  poetasters 
have  endeavored  to  deceive  the  literary  world  by  pro- 
ducing alleged  newly  discovered  poems,  or  fragments 
of  distinguished  authors.  This  latter  kind  of  falsification 
was  so  prevalent  in  the  middle  ages  that  Erasmus  com- 
plained he  had  not  a  single  copy  of  a  manuscript  entirely 
free  from  such  frauds.'  In  general,  the  detection  of  this 
kind  of  forgery  falls  within  the  province  of  literature,  and 
is  accomplished  by  the  application  of  literary  tests  which 
are  outside  of  the  province  of  biblioiics  ;  and  though,  if 
the  original  manuscript  be  accessible  together  with  un- 
questioned writing  of  the  author  whose  name  it  bears,  the 
study  of  the  document  itself  might  furnish  the  best  evi- 
dence as  to  its  authenticity,  yet  inasmuch  as  the  scrive- 

Mtasse.     "  Le  faux  devant  I'histoire,"  etc.     Paris,  Delagrave,  1898. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  173 

ner  in  past  ages  was  seldom  the  author,  tliis  study  is 
less  important  than  it  otherwise  would  be. 

A  1. — As  to  the  first  class,  or  the  forgeries  of  erasure  and 
addition,  they  are  accomplished  in  many  different  ways. 

Erasures. — In  the  days  when  writing  was  mainly 
undertaken  on  skins  of  goats  and  Iambs,  the  most  ob- 
vious method  of  removing  a  traced  character  was  by 
scraping  with  a  knife  and  with  pumice  or  other  hard 
powder.  Instead  of  this,  however,  simple  chemical 
solvents,  such  as  water  and  milk  of  lime  were  used  ;  de- 
pending upon  the  nature  of  the  writing-fluid. 

In  modern  documents  the  process  is  much  the  same. 
The  forger  has  to  contend  against  the  difficulties  of  re- 
moving the  upper  surface,  and  therefore  the  sizing  of 
the  wfiting-paper,  and  usually  attempts  to  replace  it  by 
means  described  elsewhere. 

Clumsy  attempts  at  concealment  of  parts  of  a  written 
record  by  pasting  over  it  a  fragment  of  paper,  or  a  wafer 
or  seal,  or  covering  it  with  ink,  are  not  unknown,  but 
are  easily  detected. 

A  2. — The  methods  employed  to  add  to  the  document 
something  which  was  not  there  before,  are  various,  and 
their  number  is  constantly  increasing.  Some  of  them 
are:  (1)  The  simple  writing  of  the  words  required,  in  a 
hand  as  nearly  as  possible  like  the  rest  of  the  document, 
either  in  an  available  blank  space  or  as  an  interlineation, 
or  on  a  spot  where  other  characters  have  been  erased  and 
the  surface  has  been  treated  with  some  substance  to  act 
as  a  substitute  for  the  sizing  removed.     (2)  By  tracing 


174  STUDY   OF  HANDWRITING 

the  needed  words  from  some  genuine  writing  and  trans- 
ferring them  by  carbon  paper  or  otherwise  to  the  sheet, 
and  inking  them  over  with  a  pen.  (3)  By  tracing  the 
words  from  some  genuine  writing  by  superposing  the 
new  document  over  them  and  passing  a  strong  hght 
through  both  sheets.  (4)  By  cutting  out  the  letters  from 
a  genuine  document  and  rearranging  them  to  form  the 
desired  words,  photographing  these  new  words,  and  trans- 
ferring them  by  some  of  the  above  methods  to  the 
sheet.  (5)  Removing  the  upper  surface  of  a  genuine 
letter  or  letters,  by  the  "  graphotype''  process,  and  trans- 
ferring it  bodily  to  the  place  desired.'  This  is  an  en- 
tirely new  and  very  dangerous  means  of  forgery,  but  is 
adapted  rather  to  the  transfer  of  long  sentences  than  of 
detached  parts  of  words.  Combined  with  the  process 
mentioned  in  4,  however,  it  would  seem  to  offer  the  most 
perfect  means  of  forgery  with  the  least  chance  of  detec- 
tion yet  devised.  As  the  process  is  the  recent  invention 
of  a  Parisian  chemist,  and  is  not  generally  known,  there 
have  not  yet  been  instances  of  its  employment  noted  in 
the  courts. 

In  the  supplement  to  La  Science  Frangaise  of  Decem- 
ber 3,  1897,  a  very  interesting  example  of  the  system 
mentioned  in  4  is  given.     M.  Emile  Gautier,  its  editor, 

^  Its  effect  is  to  secure  a  thin  slice  parallel  to  the  paper  of  the 
actual  writing,  so  that  neither  tests  of  its  individual  character,  nor 
of  the  chemical  character  of  the  ink  would  demonstrate  the  fraud. 
Fortunately  there  exist  other  means  of  detecting  such  forgeries  if 
the  attention  be  alert. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  175 

writes  to  M.  Obalski  a  short  note  asking  him  to  pro- 
cure from  the  expert  photographers  the  details  of  the 
new  methods  of  d('calque,  macquillage,  etc.  Out  of  this 
very  note  words  and  letters  are  cut  and  subsequently 
pasted  together  to  form  an  excellent  imitation  of  the  run- 
ning hand  of  the  writer.  The  new  sentences  which  are 
constructed  are  humorously  uncomplimentary  to  the 
original  author  of  the  note.  This  new  note  is  then 
photographed  as  an  original  letter,  the  outlines  of  the 
patches  being  obliterated  on  the  negative.  Prints  from 
negatives  of  this  kind  are  made  on  ordinary  writing- 
paper  and  the  illusion  is  complete,  unless  unusually  close 
scrutiny  be  given  to  the  whole  document. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

EVmENCES    OF    TAMPERING. 

Erasures. — If  the  erasure  be  effected  by  scratching  or 
rubbing,  this  removes  also  the  surface  of  the  paper, 
which  consists  of  some  sort  of  "  size"  or  paste  with  resin 
soap,  which  is  pressed  into  the  upper  pores  to  give  the 
paper  a  smooth  appearance,  and  to  prevent  the  writing- 
fluid  from  "  running"  or  entering  the  pores  and  blurring 
the  edges  of  the  lines. 

If  the  paper  werie  left  as  it  exists  when  the  scratcliing 
or  rubbing  is  completed,  it  would  be  very  easy  to  see 
that  it  had  been  tampered  with,  for  not  only  would  the 


176  STUDY  OF   HANDWRITING 

parts  thus  abraded  show  the  running  of  any  fluid  which 
was  subsequently  laid  upon  them,  but  the  surface  would 
appear  rough  to  the  eye  in  comparison  with  adjacent 
parts  of  the  paper,  and  the  place  would  appear  thinner 
by  transmitted  light.  Even  to  the  touch  the  surface 
would  reveal  differences  from  the  ordinary  condition  of 
other  parts  of  the  paper. 

But  the  forger  usually  endeavors  to  overcome  these 
difficulties  by  applying  to  the  scratched  area  sandarach, 
resin,  alum,  paste,  or  Iavo  or  three  of  these  together,  the 
■  effect  being  to  prevent  an  unusually  large  flow  of  ink 
from  the  pen  and  its  abnormal  absorption  by  the 
paper. 

The  paper  should  be  placed  between  the  observer  and 
a  strong  light,  by  which  means,  either  with  or  without  a 
magnify ing-glass,  a  distinct  increase  in  the  brightness  of 
the  suspected  area  may  be  noticed,  indicating  a  thinning, 
and  even  traces  of  letters,  or  marks  which  have  escaped 
the  erasing-tool,  may  be  seen, 

A  close  scrutiny  may  show  places  where  the  surface 
has  been  partially  torn,  and  the  fibres  of  the  paper 
united  together  into  little  knobs,  and  almost  invariably  a 
magnifying-glass  will  clearly  show  the  disturbance  of  the 
superficial  fibres,  as  compared  with  other  and  normal 
parts  of  the  paper.  If  the  latter  be  tinted,  the  change 
of  appearance  may  extend  to  color.  The  color  of  the 
paper  should  always  be  attentively  observed. 

"Washing-  with  Chemical  Reagents. — A  change  of 
color  over  the  part  which  is  the  subject  of  investigation 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  177 

may  indicate  the  mechanical  removal  of  the  paper  itself, 
or  a  washing  either  with  water  or  with  acids,  alkalies,  or 
saline  solutions.  A  certain  spotted  character  which  fol- 
lows this  latter  treatment  differs  from  the  changes  of 
color  duo  to  age  or  soiling. 

When  the  heavier  strokes — usually  the  down-strokes 
— of  a  writing  are  thicker  and  more  blurred  than  usual 
a  removal  of  sizing,  or  an  original  imperfect  sizing  of  the 
paper,  is  suggested. 

On  the  other  hand,  where  the  strokes  are  thinner  and 
closer  together  than  usual,  the  cause  is  generally  the 
application  of  resin,  which  has  been  added,  in  all  prob- 
ability, to  conceal  a  previous  scratching  of  the  sur- 
face. 

The  spots  produced  by  washing  are  usually  blurred 
marks  bordering  the  tracings  of  the  character,  and  in 
most  cases  colored. 

Restoration  of  Orig-inal  Marks. — In  order  to  bring 
out  any  traces  of  ink-marks  which  have  been  so  far  re- 
moved as  not  to  be  observable  by  the  naked  eye,  Coulier 
recommended  placing  the  document  between  sheets  of 
white  filter-paper  and  passing  a  hot  flat-iron  over  it, 
allowing  the  latter  to  remain  on  the  spotted  parts  for  a 
short  time. 

Warme  preferred  to  wet  the  suspected  document  with 
alcohol,  wrapped  in  another  piece  of  paper  also  satu- 
rated with  alcohol,  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  out  as 
yellow  rusty  marks  all  the  pen-strokes  whicH  had  not 
been  entirely  removed  by  the  forgers. 

12 


178  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

This  treatment  fixes  the  appearance  of  the  spread 
lines  and  colored  spots  in  the  space  that  has  been 
washed  and  renders  more  noticeable  the  stain  caused 
by  a  partial  sizing.  In  this  manner  apparently  white 
papers  on  which  at  first  no  traces  of  characters  could 
be  found  showed  a  yellow  tinge,  denoting  the  presence 
of  previous  writing,  and  on  the  application  of  gallic  acid 
or  an  infusion  of  nut-galls  characters  appeared  sufficiently 
distinct  to  permit  the  forgery  to  be  detected. 

Chevallier  and  Lassaigne  discovered  a  very  satisfactory 
method  of  making  previous  writings  appear  by  the  aid 
of  heat. 

The  paper  to  be  examined  was  placed  near  the  fire  in 
a  stove,  care  being  taken  not  to  permit  it  to  ignite,  but  to 
give  it  a  pale  yellow  chamois  color.  In  papers  which 
had  been  deprived  by  washing  of  their  writing  the  latter 
almost  immediately  reappeared.^ 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

ALTERATIONS    OF    THE    ORIGINAL    IMPORT    OF    THE    DOCUMENT. 

Diflaculties. — It  is  difficult  to  lay  down  any  general 
rules  for  guidance  in  establishing  the  fact  of  such  altera- 
tions where  skill  has  been  employed  to  conceal  them. 
There  is  usually  something  forced  or  unnatural  which 

^  Dictionnaire  des  alterations  et  falsifications,  etc.,  par  E.  Baudri- 
mont.     Sixieme  edition,  Asselin  et  Cie,  Paris,  1882. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  179 

strikes  the  eye  in  looking  at  examples  of  this  kind.  They 
differ  from  bona  fide  alterations  made  by  an  author  with 
no  attempt  at  concealment,  but  they  differ  in  so  many 
various  ways  that  it  is  not  easy  to  bring  them  under  one 
general  category. 

As  a  rule,  they  err  on  the  side  of  too  great  care  and 
legibility.  A  hand  which  has  never  made  a  clear  and 
distinct  figure  "  2,"  or  letter  "  t,"  or  word  "  five,"  here 
appears  for  the  first  time,  under  suspicious  circumstances, 
to  have  thrown  off  ambiguity  and  to  have  plainly  formed 
the  letter  or  figure  out  of  one  of  different  character. 

It  may  be  that  some  trick  of  writing  has  ordinarily 
deprived  the  character  of  clearness,  and  in  this  case  the 
peculiarity  appears,  but  so  subordinated  that  there  can 
be  no  doubt  as  to  what  was  intended  to  be  conveyed  to 
the  reader. 

Such  reformations  from  bad  habits  in  writing  are 
always  very  suspicious  when  they  occur  at  critical  points 
and  times,  and  when  they  show  not  only  a  desire  to 
improve  a  bad  handwriting,  but  to  confer  a  substantial 
benefit,  nowhere  else  alluded  to,  upon  some  one.  The 
aim  of  the  forger  has  been  to  make  the  altered  char- 
acter distinct,  in  order  that  no  ambiguity  shall  rob  him 
of  the  benefit  of  the  change,  and  this  labored  effort  to 
be  distinct  may  lead  to  his  detection.  In  cases  where 
the  sense  of  the  sentence  is  altered  by  the  addition  or 
the  elimination  of  words,  the  case  falls  under  the  general 
head  of  complete  forgeries,  and  all  the  aids  to  investiga- 
tion of  the  characters  of  handwriting,  the  constitution  of 


180  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

inks,  and  the  other  branches  of  the  subject  discussed  in 
this  book  may  be  required ;  but  where  a  part  of  a  letter 
or  integer  is  grafted  on  another  to  change  its  value, 
the  forgery  is  as  to  degree  and  not  kind.  In  this  case 
the  character  of  the  ink  in  each  of  the  two  parts  deserves 
especial  attention. 

To  this  class  belongs  the  "  raising"  of  a  cheque,  or 
making  it  transfer  a  larger  sum  to  the  payee  by  the 
addition  of  ciphers,  or  integers,  or  the  alteration  of  one 
digit  to  another. 

Not  all  the  digits  are  equally  easy  to  change  into  each 
other,  but  a  1  is  frequently  changed  to  a  4 ;  or  a  3  or  6 
to  an  8  ;  or  a  7  to  a  9,  etc. 

When  there  are  traces  of  different  inks  on  the  same 
figure,  and  one  kind  makes  a  number  inferior  to  that 
produced  by  both  together,  the  probability  of  a  forgery 
is  much  heightened. 

"Writing  over  a  Stroke  or  Dash,  or  -where  One  has 
been  removed. — The  methods  given  above  for  arriving 
at  a  conclusion  as  to  which  of  two  crossed  lines  is  above 
and  which  below,  apply  to  the  first  of  these  cases,  but 
others  may  be  employed.  The  author  has  examined  a 
case  where  the  forger,  knowing  that  it  was  almost  impos- 
sible to  escape  detection  by  erasing  a  line  and  afterwards 
writing  over  the  erasure,  determined  to  write  boldly  over 
a  filling-out  flourish  line,  (i.e.,  a  line  drawn  from  the  end 
of  the  last  letter  in  a  paragraph  diagonally  across  a  blank 
space,  to  prevent  any  words  from  being  added).  The 
intention  of  this  forger  was  to  write  the  words  first,  and 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  181 

subsequently  to  erase  both  line  and  letters,  in  order  to 
give  the  impression  that  they  were  made  contemporane- 
ously. But  when  the  pen  approached  the  diagonally 
descending  flourish  line,  he  showed  his  hesitation  in 
writing  across  the  flourish  line  by  the  alteration  of  the 
direction  of  his  line  of  writing  sensibly  upward  to  avoid 
it,  and  as  this  was  the  only  line  of  writing  with  this  pe- 
culiarity, and  its  direction  was  parallel  to  the  flourish 
line  before  the  latter's  partial  erasure,  it  left  strong  evi- 
dence of  the  .  existence  of  the  flourish  line  before  this 
line  of  writing  was  penned.  Where  the  writing  finally 
did  cross  a  remnant  of  the  flourish  line,  examination  of 
the  crossing  in  oblique  light,  by  a  lens  magnifying  three 
or  four  diameters,  showed  conclusively  that  the  latter 
was  underneath.  He  failed  in  his  object,  because  the 
ink  of  the  writing  was  shown  to  be  above  the  ink  of 
the  line,  where  traces  remained,  by  oblique  examination, 
and  a  chemical  test  showed  that  the  two  inks  were 
different  in  constitution.  In  this  case,  also,  the  erasing 
was  purposely  done  for  a  considerable  space  above  and 
below  the  line,  as  if  to  force  attention  to  the  fact  that 
the  letters  of  the  writing  had  suffered  in  the  same  way 
as  the  line  itself,  and  that  both  were  there  before  the 
erasing  process  began. 

Writing'  over  an  Erasure. — If  any  one  will  try  the 
experiment  of  erasing  an  ink-mark  on  ordinary  writing- 
paper,  and  then  writing  over  the  erasure,  he  will  notice 
a  striking  difference  between  the  letters  on  the  unaltered 
and  on  the  altered  surface.     The  latter  are  broader,  and 


182  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

in  most  cases,  to  the  unaided  eye,  darker  in  color,  while 
the  erased  spot,  if  not  further  treated  to  some  substitute 
for  sizing,  may  be  noticed  either  when  the  paper  is  held 
between  a  light  and  the  eye,  or  when  viewed  obliquely 
at  a  certain  angle,  or  in  both  cases. 

Very  frequently  it  happens  that  so  much  of  the  size 
and  the  superficial  layer  of  fibres  must  be  removed  that 
the  mark  of  the  ink  can  be  distinctly  seen  on  the  reverse 
side  of  the  paper,  and  the  lines  have  a  distinct -border 
which  makes  them  broader  than  in  the  same  writing 
under  normal  conditions.  If  a  sharp  pen  be  used  there  is 
great  likelihood  that  a  hole  will  be  made  in  the  paper,  or 
a  sputter  thrown  over  the  parts  adjacent  to  the  erasure. 

The  latter  effect  is  produced  by  the  entanglement  of  the 
point  of  the  pen  among  the  disturbed  fibres  of  the  paper 
and  its  sudden  release  when  sufficient  force  is  used  to 
carry  it  along  in  the  direction  of  the  writing. 

It  is  often  of  importance  to  know,  in  case  of  a  blot, 
whether  the  erasure  it  may  partially  mark  were  there 
before  the  blot,  or  whether  it  were  made  with  the  object 
of  removing  the  latter. 

Inasmuch  as  an  attempt  to  correct  such  a  disfigure- 
ment would  in  all  probability  not  be  made  until  the  ink 
had  dried,  an  inspection  of  the  reverse  side  of  the  paper 
will  usually  furnish  satisfactory  evidence  on  the  point. 
If  the  color  of  the  ink  be  not  more  distinct  on  the  under 
side  of  the  paper  than  the  color  of  other  writing  where 
there  was  no  erasure,  it  is  probable  that  the  erasure  was 
subsequent  to  the  blot. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  183 

If  the  reverse  be  the  case,  the  opposite  conclusion  may 
be  drawn.  Blots  are  sometimes  used  by  ignorant  per- 
sons to  conceal  the  improper  manipulation  of  the  paper, 
but  they  are  not  adapted  to  aid  this  kind  of  fraud,  and 
least  of  all  to  conceal  erasures. 

Additions  and  Interlineations. — The  decision  as  to 
whether  they  have  been  made  legitimately  and  before  a 
paper  was  executed,  or  subsequently  to  its  execution, 
and  with  fraudulent  intent,  must  be  arrived  at  by  a  com- 
parison of  the  handwriting  in  which  the  words  appear, 
the  ink  with  which  they  were  written,  and  the  local  features 
of  each  special  case  which  usually  are  not  wanting. 

As  an  instance  of  these  local  accidents  which  always 
assist  so  much  in  reaching  the  truth,  the  following  case  in 
the  author's  experience  may  be  cited.  It  was  claimed 
by  a  plaintiff  that  the  paper,  of  which  the  important  part 
is  represented  below,  was  altered  by  the  insertion  of  the 
words  "  in  foil  to  Dayt,"  after  the  cheque  had  been  paid, 
cancelled  by  the  bank,  and  returned  to  the  payer.  He 
did  not  deny  that  the  sum  had  been  paid,  but  claimed  an 
additional  sum  still  due  on  the  transaction,  and  charged 
forgery  against  the  drawer  of  the  cheque. 

It  happened  that  part  of  a  letter  of  one  of  these  words 
crossed  two  of  the  punctures  over  figures  of  the  cheque, 
but  no  ink  had  come  through  to  the  under  side,  there 
was  no  soiling  of  the  edge  of  the  paper  by  ink,  and  no 
way  to  account  for  the  absence  of  these  appearances,  if 
the  cheque  had  been  actually  punctured  when  the  words 
were  written.     Consequently,  the  jury  very  justly  gave 


184  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

a  verdict  for  the  defendant,  and  saved  an  innocent  man 
from  incarceration  as  a  criminal. 

In  Plate  III.,  Fig.  1,  part  of  the  face  of  the  cheque, 
including  the  figures  for  the  dollars,  and  the  punctures 
over  them  to  prevent  alteration,  is  represented. 

In  Fig.  2  the  reverse  of  the  top  of  the  "  f '  has  been 
lightly  traced  in  pencil  to  show  the  direction  of  its  de- 
scent over  the  punctured  part  on  the  opposite  side,  and 
two  arrows  have  been  drawn  in  pencil  to  within  minute 
distances  of  the  holes,  which  the  tail  of  the  "  f"  (written 
in  ink)  on  the  face  or  opposite  side  traversed. 

Had  these  holes  been  there  when  the  "  f"  was  written, 
the  little  thread  of  ink  which  flowed  from  the  pen  upon 
the  paper  would  inevitably  have  penetrated  them  and 
appeared  on  the  opposite  side.  As  not  a  trace  of  ink 
appears  on  the  reverse  side,  it  is  conclusive  evidence  that 
the  holes  were  not  there  when  "in  foil. to  Dayt"  was 
written  ;  or,  in  short,  these  words  were  written  before  the 
cheque  was  cancelled  by  the  bank,  and  presumably  be- 
fore it  was  returned  to  the  drawer. 

While  the  expert  in  handwriting  should  confine  him- 
self to  the  examinations  of  the  paper,  ink,  seals,  hand- 
writing, etc.,  and  leave  to  the  counsel  the  task  of  reason- 
ing on  the  purport  of  the  words  added,  and  all  other 
matters  not  allied  to  those  parts  of  the  forgery  relating  to 
handwriting,  yet  it  would  be  unreasonable  to  neglect  alto- 
gether any  means  of  corroborating  a  previously  formed 
suspicion  or  directing  a  course  of  inquiry. 

The  expert  would  be  more  or  less  than  human  who 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  185 

could  shut  his  eyes  to  the  importance  of  the  fact,  if  certain 
words  of  doubtful  authenticity  gave  to  the  person  who 
might  have  written  them  benefits  which  he  would  not 
have  procured  without  them.  It  is,  of  course,  improper 
for  an  expert  to  allow  himself  to  be  influenced  in  his 
purely  scientific  investigation,  but  he  need  not  deny  him- 
self the  encouragement  which  is  derived  from  the  dis- 
covery of  an  apparent  motive  for  the  act,  nor  neglect  the 
clue  which  such  a  motive  might  suggest  as  an  additional 
line  of  investigation. 

Where  the  supposed  writer  of  the  document  was  a 
bad  or  careless  penman  the  interlineations  or  additions 
are  generally  distinguished  from  his  handwriting,  which 
they  simulate,  by  greater  clearness  and  precision,  as  has 
been  said  above  ;  for,  if  a  man  will  risk  being  sent  to  jail 
for  forgery,  it  is  not  likely  that  he  is  willing  to  lose,  through 
indistinctness  of  the  characters,  any  prospective  advan- 
tage which  his  felony  will  bring  him. 

Obvious  Mistakes. — Considering  the  number  of  such 
fraudulent  additions  or  interlineations  in  the  forgeries 
which  come  to  light,  the  number  of  mistakes  in  spelling 
or  in  following  the  method  employed  by  the  supposed 
writer  in  forming  the  same  words  is  surprisingly  great. 
Several  instances  are  recalled  where  the  name  of  the 
supposed  writer  was  not  only  misspelled  but  spelled  in 
two  different  ways  in  the  same  instrument.  It  occa- 
sionally seems  as  if  the  forger's  attention  is  so  earnestly 
directed  to  overcoming  the  difficult  parts  of  his  task  that 
he  neglects  the  simpler  and  more  obvious  parts. 


PART    IV. 
CHEMICAL   EXAMINATION. 

CHAPTER    XVII. 

CHEMICAL    CONSTITUTION    OF    INKS. 

Schluttig-  and  Neumann's  Report. — In  the  exhaustive 
essay  upon  iron-nutgall  inks  by  Schluttig  and  Neumann 
in  the  interest  of  the  ink-manufacturing  firm  of  August 
Leonhardi,  in  Dresden  (which  has  been  made  the  basis 
of  most  of  the  important  chemical  treatises  on  inks  since 
the  date  of  its  publication),  the  following  characteristics 
are  laid  down  as  necessary  for  a  perfect  ink : 

1.  A  clear,  filterable  solution,  which  shows  no  par- 
ticles in  suspension. 

2.  It  must  be  limpid  (easily  flowing)  and  remain  so 
for  some  time, — that  is  to  say,  it  must  flow  easily  from 
the  pen,  and  neither  stick  fast  to  nor  fall  from  it,  nor 
broaden  on  touching  the  paper. 

3.  It  must  possess  durability  in  glass  (i.e.,  in  the  ink- 
stand), and  (a)  must  produce  only  a  slight  precipitate 
after  a  considerable  time,  and  (b)  must  exhibit  no  crust 
on  the  surface  or  sides  and  no  flakes. 

4.  It  must  produce  on  the  pen  only  a  slight  lacquer- 
like smooth  deposit,  but  not  a  loose  crust. 

186 


DETECTION   OF   FORGERY.  187 

5.  It  must  possess  no  pronounced  odor. 

6.  It  must  not  be  too  acid,  nor  penetrate  good  paper. 

7.  It  must  have  an  intense  color  which  neither  in  the 
fluid  nor  on  the  paper  becomes  lighter,  nor  is  entirely 
bleached. 

(In  the  latter  case  the  bleaching  is  estimated  from  the 
time  of  the  attainment  of  perfect  dryness  of  the  writing, 
because  wet  lines  always  appear  darker  than  dry.) 

8.  It  must  produce  characters  which,  after  drying,  are 
not  sticky. 

All  good  inks  should  possess  these  characters,  whether 
they  are  copying-inks  or  writing-inks.  In  the  foregoing 
cases  only  the  writing-inks  and  the  combined  writing- 
and  copying-inks  are  considered,  which  latter,  without 
regard  to  their  copying  properties,  must  have  all  the 
qualities  of  a  good  ink.  The  pure  copying-inks  which 
make  more  than  two  copies  are  not  considered  in  the 
following. 

Further,  it  is  to  be  required  of  the  writing-inks  that — 

9.  They  must  produce  characters  which,  after  drying 
for  eight  days,  cannot  be  so  far  removed  by  several  days' 
treatment  with  water  or  alcohol  that  they  will  become 
illegible.  With  regard  to  the  permanence  of  their  writ- 
ten characters  on  exposure  to  light  and  air  they  are 
divided  into  (a)  unalterable,  or  Class  I.,  and  (b)  alterable, 
or  Class  II. 

The  unalterable  are  the  so-called  iron-nutgall  inks  of 
documentary  value  :  they  must  possess — 

10.  A  definite  minimum  content  of  iron,  and. 


188  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

11.  A  sufficient  content  of  nutgalls, — i.e.,  they  must 
produce  written  characters  which  in  eight  days  turn 
into  deep  black,  and  then  even  after  several  days'  treat- 
ment with  water  and  alcohol  still  maintain  a  certain 
degree  of  blackness. 

After  stating  that  the  value  of  iron-nutgall  inks,  for  use 
in  legal  documents,  is  established  beyond  peradventure, 
Schluttig  and  Neumann  add  that,  although  these  are  the 
only  inks  whose  permanency  has  been  guaranteed  by 
the  results  of  centuries  of  exposure,  still,  not  all  docu- 
ments written  with  so-called  iron-nutgall  inks  can  be 
expected  to  remain  legible  for  several  centuries. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  characters  in  other  documents 
have  been  perfectly  preserved  up  to  the  present  day. 
Although  the  character  of  the  paper  has  a  certain  influ- 
ence upon  the  result,  yet  the  conclusion  is  forced  that 
only  such  iron-nutgall  inks  furnish  the  guarantee  of  last- 
ing for  centuries  of  which  the  written  characters  are 
really  black  after  drying,  and  that  the  same  amount  of 
confidence  cannot  be  given  to  other  nutgall  iron  inks  of 
which  the  characters  are  gray  or  brown. 

These  chemists  regard  the  introduction  of  gum  or 
other  substance  to  render  the  ink  viscous  as  harmful  and 
antiquated. 

The  above  requirements  of  a  good  ink  are  seldom 
fulfilled,  and  the  student  of  the  writing-fluids  employed 
in  documents  both  old  and  recent  would  be  very  far  misled 
if  he  were  to  suppose  the  objects  of  his  examination  to  be 
the  dried  remains  of  writing-fluids  of  such  high  character. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  189 

In  the  new  Danish  Ink  Standards,  published  May  16, 
1892,  in  the  main  all  the  suggestions  made  by  Schluttig 
and  Neumann  in  their  paper  on  iron-nutgall  inks  are 
adopted.  The  first  two  sections  in  the  translation  are 
as  follows : 

1.  Ink  for  use  in  government  service  must  fulfil  the 
following  general  requirements.  It  must  be  clear  (contain 
no  deposit  on  the  bottom  nor  solid  separated  parts) ;  not 
more  acid  than  is  necessary ;  and  must  not  have  too 
strong  an  odor.  It  should  have  a  strong  color,  and  give 
a  like  strongly  colored  writing.  When  placed  in  the  ink- 
stand it  should  be  able  to  be  kept  for  some  time  without 
the  formation  of  a  film  on  the  surface  or  side  walls  of 
the  glass,  or  of  a  deposit  on  the  bottom,  or  of  mould. 
On  a  good  pen,  after  drying,  it  should  leave  but  an  insig- 
nificant, glossy  coating,  but  not  a  loose,  scaly  crust.  It 
must  flow  readily  from  the  pen,  but  must  not  show  any 
tendency  to  penetrate  good  wTiting-paper  too  much.  The 
written  characters  must  dry  rapidly  without  becoming 
sticky,  and  after  drying  take  a  black  color. 

2.  The  ink  which  is  employed  in  the  service  of  the 
government  must  belong  to  one  of  the  following  classes. 

Class  I. — Iron-nutgall  ink,  which  must  have  the  fol- 
lowing characteristics.  (1)  It  must  contain  at  least  four 
grams  of  iron  to  the  liter ;  (2)  it  must  show  perfect  per- 
manence for  fourteen  days.  (The  test  for  permanence 
is  made  by  placing  twenty-five  cubic  centimeters  of  the 
filtered  ink  into  a  cylindrical  medicine  bottle  of  five  hun- 
dred cubic  centimeters'  capacity,  of  which  the  aperture 


190  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

has  been  closed  by  a  paper  cover,  or  in  such  a  way  as  to 
exclude  dust,  etc.  In  testing  for  mould  its  mouth  is 
left  open.)  (3)  It  must  produce  written  characters 
which  are  as  able  to  withstand  light,  air,  water,  and 
alcohol  as  those  of  the  ink  composed  of  the  following 
ingredients  in  one  liter:  23.4  grams  tannin  (from  the 
purest  commercial  tannic  acid, — i.e.,  so  much  of  the 
latter  as  will  contain  23.4  grams),  7.7  grams  crystallized 
gallic  acid,  thirty  grams  copperas,  ten  grams  gum  arabic, 
2.5  grams  anhydrous  HCl  (in  pure  commercial  hydro- 
chloric acid),  one  gram  carbolic  acid. 

The  test  is  made  by  the  exposure  of  the  characters 
which  have  been  written  on  a  paper  of  the  Class  1 
material  (rag  paper)  to  direct  sunlight  for  three  whole 
summer  months  ;  subsequent  washing  in  the  water  and 
alcohol,  and  drying. 

Class  II. — Ink  of  which  the  characters  after  eight  days' 
drying  can  neither  be  washed  out  by  water  nor  by  al- 
cohol. It  is  only  required  of  this  ink  that  it  withstand 
for  three  days  the  test  of  permanence  prescribed  for 
Class  I.  But  the  test  for  mould  should  be  extended  to 
fourteen  days. 

Copying-ink  must  belong  to  Class  L,  and  furnish  good 
and  sharp  copies  at  least  during  one  day  after  the  drying. 
Even  if  the  writing  is  not  copied,  it  must  not  be  sticky 
after  drying.^ 


1  From    the   Chemisch-technisches    Reporlorium,    Berlin,    1892. 
Zweites  Halbjahr,  Erste  Halfte,  p.  46. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  191 

Vanadium  Inks. — Berzelius  found  that  by  treating  an 
infusion  of  galls  with  a  solution  of  ammonium  vanadate 
in  place  of  iron  sulphate,  ho  could  produce  an  ink  of 
remarkably  good  quality.  At  the  time  of  his  discovery 
— 1831 — it  was  of  no  practical  interest,  because  the 
vanadates  were  very  costly.  At  the  present  time  their 
cost  has  been  so  much  reduced  that  his  formula  can  be 
employed  for  ordinary  inks,  which  have  the  additional 
advantage  of  presenting  great  resistance  to  most  reagents 
and  destructive  materials.  Gum  arable  can  be  dispensed 
with,  and  the  chance  of  moulding  or  alteration  thus  re- 
duced.^ 

The  following  is  a  form  of  specifications  prepared  by 
Dr.  Bennett  F.  Davenport,  161  Tremont  Street,  Boston, 
Massachusetts : 

COMMONWEALTH    OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 
Specifications  for  a  Standard  Record  Ink  to  be  furnished  under  Chap- 
ter 354.  of  the  Acts  of  1S99. 

It  must  be  a  gallo-tannate  of  iron  ink,  not  inferior  in 
any  essential  quality  to  one  properly  prepared  after  the 
following  formula,  in  which  all  the  ingredients  are  of  the 
quality  prescribed  by  the  United  States  Pharmacopoeia, 
and  the  per  cent,  of  true  acid  present  in  the  sample  of 
tannic  acid  used  has  been  determined  by  the  Loewenthal 
and  Schroeder  method. 

^  "  Work  shop  receipts"  (second  series),  Robert  Haldano.  Lon- 
don, 1883,  p.  329. 


192  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

Take  of  pure,  dry  Tannic  Acid,  23.4  parts  by  weight, 
of  crystal  Gallic  Acid,  7.7  parts, 
of  Ferrous  Sulphate,  30.0  parts, 
of  Gum  Arabic,  10.0  parts, 
of  Diluted  Hydrochloric  Acid,  25.0  parts, 
of  Carbolic  Acid,  1.0  part. 

of  Water,  sufficient  to  make  up  the  mixture  at  the  tempera- 
ture of  60°  F.  to  the  volume  of  1000  parts  by  weight 
of  water. 

Inks  submitted  will  be  subjected  to  the  following  tests 
as  compared  with  the  standard  ink  described  above : 

1.  A  fluidounce  allowed  to  stand  at  rest  in  a  white 
glass  vessel  freely  exposed,  in  diffused  daylight,  for  two 
weeks  to  the  light  and  air  at  a  temperature  of  50°  to  60° 
F.,  protected  against  the  entrance  of  dust,  must  remain 
as  free  from  deposit  upon  the  surface  of  the  ink  or  on 
the  bottom  or  sides  of  the  vessel. 

2.  It  must  contain  no  less  iron,  and  must  have  a  spe- 
cific gravity  of  1.035  to  1.040  at  60°  F. 

3.  It  must  develop  its  color  as  quickly. 

5.  After  a  week's  exposure  to  diffused  daylight,  the 
color  must  be  as  intense  a  black  when  used  upon  the 
standard  record  paper,  and  it  must  equally  resist  changes 
from  exposure  to  light,  air,  water,  or  alcohol. 

5.  It  must  be  as  fluid,  flow  as  well,  strike  no  more 
through  the  paper,  nor  remain  more  sticky  immediately 
after  drying. 

There  would  seem  to  be  practical  unanimity  as  to  the 
superiority  of  iron-nutgall  inks  for  permanent  records. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  193 

According  to  Hager  and  Holdermann/  the  most  fre- 
quently employed  black  inks  are  prepared  from  the  fol- 
lowing substances : 

Constitution  of  the  Principal  Inks, — 1.  Gallo-tannic 
acid  (nutgalls),  copperas,  gum  arable  (with  or  without 
acetic  acid  or  wood  vinegar).  Fluid  of  this  character  is 
generally  called  nutgall  ink. 

2.  Alizarine  ink  is  prepared  like  that  of  nutgalls,  but 
receives  an  addition  of  indigo-carmine,  or  a  solution  in 
water  of  indigo  in  sulphuric  acid  to  which  iron  has  been 
added. 

3.  Nutgall  ink  with  logwood  is  prepared  like  nutgall 
ink,  but  instead  of  water,  a  decoction  of  logwood  is  em- 
ployed. 

4.  Logwood  ink  (with  potassium  chromate)  is  pre- 
pared with  one  thousand  parts  of  a  decoction  of  logwood 
and  one  part  of  potassium  chromate. 

5.  Unknown  inks  are  brought  into  commerce  under 
different  names,  but  are  chiefly  prepared  from  logwood 
infusions  with  various  salts  (such  as,  for  instance,  cupric 
chloride). 

6.  Copying-inks  consist  mostly  of  the  foregoing  inks, 
with  glycerin  and  an  addition  of  sugar,  or  they  are  pre- 
pared from  solution  of  extract  of  logwood,  with  the  ad- 
dition of  alum,  blue  vitriol,  glycerin,  indigo-carmine,  etc. 

7.  Aniline  inks  are  prepared  from  aniline  colors. 

1  Hager's  Untersuchungen,  etc.,  Dr.  H.  Hager  and  E.  Holder- 
mann.     Leipzig  :  Ernst  Giinther's  Verlag,  1888. 

13 


194  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

It  is  often  important  in  the  examination  of  supposed 
forgeries  to  know  the  constitution  of  the  inks  more 
generally  employed. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


THE    TESTING    OF    INKS. 


Objects  in  View. — The  chemical  testing  of  inks  on 
documents  may  have  for  its  object  the  decision  as  to 
whether  two  different  ink  marks  give  the  same  reactions  ; 
whether  certain  substances,  or  what  substances,  are  con- 
tained in  an  ink  ;  which  of  two  crossed  lines  is  the  upper, 
etc.  These  and  a  variety  of  other  questions  belong 
to  the  chemical  part  of  the  general  subject,  and  are  here  to 
be  considered  by  themselves.  It  is  evident  that,  in  an 
important  document,  it  is  out  of  the  question  to  think  of 
making  a  quantitative  analysis  of  an  ink.  To  do  so 
would  destroy  the  document,  and  even  if  at  this  cost 
a  satisfactory  analysis  could  be  made  (which  is  more  than 
doubtful),  the  sacrifice  would  be  too  great.  It  is  not 
likely  that  a  satisfactory  quantitative  analysis  of  the  ink 
could  be  made  from  the  extremely  thin  and  dried  films 
of  its  marks  on  paper,  for  whether  mechanical  or  chem- 
ical means  were  used  to  collect  them,  the  substance  exam- 
ined would  always  be  rendered  impure  by  the  material 
derived  from  the  surface  of  the  paper,  which  could  not 
be  entirely  separated  from  it. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  195 

Furthermore,  some  constituents  of  inks  are  volatile, 
and  (consequently  the  result  attained  by  an  ultimate 
analysis  of  the  material  which  could  be  secured  from  a 
dried  piece  of  writing  would  be  but  little  more  precise 
in  suggesting  the  original  constitution  of  the  ink  than 
such  qualitative  tests  as  may  be  conducted  without 
injury  to  the  document  as  a  record. 

Importance  of  photographing-  the  Document. — 
While  it  is  perfectly  true,  as  has  been  said  before  in  this 
work,  that  a  good  photographic  copy  should  be  made  of 
every  document  before  it  is  submitted  to  chemical  exam- 
ination, the  latter  is  far  from  the  dangerous  process 
which  judges  and  opposing  counsel  sometimes  seem  to 
consider  it. 

Chemical  Testing. — It  is  frequently  remarkable  to 
observe  with  what  equanimity  the  court  can  see  an  im- 
portant document  soiled  by  dirty  fmgers,  folded  and 
sometimes  torn,  pricked  with  pins,  and  adorned  with 
"  Exhibit"  marks,  while  it  forbids  the  application  of  a 
minute  drop  of  a  reagent  to  the  ink  or  paper,  of  which 
the  effects  could  be  seen  only  by  a  magnifying-glass,  and 
which  would  have  some  real  value  in  the  establishment 
of  tlie  truth  :  as  if  the  act  of  testing  chemically  were  a 
sacrilege.  This  prejudice  of  some  courts  against  per- 
mitting a  document  to  be  chemically  tested  seems  not 
to  be  shared  to  the  same  extent  abroad. 

If  tlie  truth  is  to  be  elicited  some  liberty  must  be 
allowed  the  agent,  but  it  is  not  necessary  that  he  should 
be  permitted  to  mutilate  or  destroy  the  paper.    ^On  the 


196  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

eontrar}',  in  dealing  with  valuable  documents  none 
should  be  allowed  to  apply  tests  of  any  kind  but  those 
known  to  have  the  necessary  experience  to  do  so  safely, 
and  those  who  have  a  respect  for  records.^ 

The  tests  applicable  to  a  writing  are  necessarily  quali- 
tative,— that  is,  they  are  exclusively  directed  to  deter- 
mining the  presence  of  a  substance  and  not  to  the 
quantity  of  that  substance  which  exists  in  the  ink.  The 
proof  of  the  presence  of  a  substance  is  obtained  by  the 
reactions  it  gives,  which  are  in  these  cases  usually 
changes  of  color  or  shade  on  the  application  of  the 
testing  substance.  It  is  not  necessary  that  this  should 
be  effected  over  any  considerable  surface  of  the  ink- 
mark  tested.  An  exceedingly  small  drop  applied  on  a 
fine  point  to  a  given  part  of  an  ink  line,  and  then  ex- 
amined carefully  under  the  magnify ing-glass,  will  give  the 
same  assurance  of  the  presence  of  a  component  as  would 
the  entire  document  if  immersed  in  the  reagent.  It  is 
seldom  necessary  to  effect  a  change  so  great  as  to  be  re- 
marked by  a  casual  glance  at  the  document.  Neverthe- 
less, it  in  no  way  invalidates  the  authenticity  of  a 
document  if  the  color  of  parts  of  a  few  letters  has  been 
changed,  especially  if  the  exact  parts  of  the  document  to 
which  reagents  have  been  applied  are  noted,  and  can  be 

^  In  a  case  known  to  the  author  a  handwriting  expert  who  was 
no  chemist,  to  whom  a  promissory  note  in  dispute  had  been  sub- 
mitted, so  defaced  it  that  all  the  characters  were  smeared  and  with 
difficulty  decipherable,  while  the  figures  indicating  the  sum  were 
absolutely  obliterated. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  197 

recognized  and  testified  to  by  the  expert  who  makes  the 
experiment.  The  lines  should  remain  in  other  respects 
as  distinct  as  before.  This  would  generally  be  the  case, 
but  there  are  tests  which  leave  the  ink  spread  out  in 
little  blots  where  the  reagent  has  been  applied.  Tests 
like  these  should  be  avoided  wherever  possible,  and 
when  necessary  the  amount  of  the  reagent  should  be 
as  small  as  is  consistent  Avith  a  proper  observation  of 
the  reaction. 

For  the  purpose  of  examining  inks  upon  written 
documents,  the  following  are  the  reagents  which  it  will 
usually  be  found  sufficient  to  employ : 

Reagents  Desirable. — Oxalic  acid,  ten  per  cent, 
solution ;  citric  or  tartaric  acid,  ten  per  cent,  solution ; 
hydrochloric  acid,  ten  per  cent. ;  sulphuric  acid,  fifteen 
per  cent. ;  nitric  acid,  tAventy  per  cent. ;  a  solution  of  one 
part  tin  dichloride,  one  part  hydrochloric  acid,  and  ten 
parts  of  distilled  water ;  saturated  solution  of  sulphurous 
acid  ;  four  per  cent,  solution  of  gold  chloride  ;  a  solution 
.of  sodium  hyposulphite  one  part,  ammonia  one  part,  and 
distilled  water  ten  parts  ;  a  solution  (which  should  always 
be  freshly  made)  of  potassium  ferrocyanide  one  part, 
hydrochloric  acid  one  part,  and  distilled  Avater  ten  parts ; 
a  solution  of  potassium  sulphocyanate  one  part,  hydro- 
chloric acid  one  part,  and  distilled  water  ten  parts  ;  a  four 
per  cent,  solution  of  sodium  hydrate  in  distilled  water ; 
a  two  per  cent,  solution  of  chlorinated  lime ;  some 
crystals  of  iodine  ;  absolute  alcohol ;  aqua  ammonia ;  and 
distilled  water. 


198  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

Convenient  Form  of  Apparatus. — The  author  finds 
it  convenient  to  arrange  these  reagents  in  a  portable  case 
of  which  a  representation  is  given  in  Plate  XIII.,  Figs.  5 
and  6. 

The  little  reagent  bottles,  each  containing  about  twenty 
cubic  centimeters,  are  held  in  separate  compartments, 
on  two  sides  of  a  double  strip,  hinged  at  the  top.  In 
carrying,  the  two  strips  are  pressed  together  and  slipped 
into  the  grooves  on  the  ends  of  the  outside  case ;  while 
in  use,  the  strips  are  separated  and  rested  on  the  table, 
when  they  are  ready  at  hand.  A  broad  pocket  extending 
over  the  entire  length  of  the  outside  case  is  useful  for 
carrying  the  glass  rods,  feathers,  pens,  etc.,  necessary  for 
applying  the  reagents. 

Manner  of  Testing. — Strips  of  clean,  white  blotting- 
paper  should  always  be  provided  before  commencing  the 
examination. 

If  the  document  be  very  old  or  the  ink  with  which  it 
is  written  very  pale,  it  is  well  to  apply  a  drop  of  distilled 
water  to  the  place  where  the  reagent  has  been  applied, 
and  as  soon  as  sufficient  time  has  been  allowed  forjudg- 
ing of  the  reaction,  to  remove  the  surplus  fluid  at  once 
by  means  of  the  blotting-paper. 

The  testing  of  a  writing  demands  every  precaution,  for 
often  only  one  written  letter,  a  simple  stroke,  constitutes 
the  object  of  the  examination,  and  it  must  be  proved 
from  this  stroke  whether  it  has  been  made  with  other 
ink  than  that  used  in  the  rest  of  the  document.  Again, 
sometimes  the  proof  must  be  furnished  whether  a  writ- 


AND   DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  199 

ten  character  is  of  later  date  than  the  remainder  of  the 
document. 

When  important  docmiients  are  concerned,  and  espe- 
cially in  legal  cases,  as  has  been  reiterated,  it  is  advisable 
to  have  a  photographic  copy  taken  of  the  writing,  or  the 
suspected  part  of  the  writing. 

Preliminary  Investigation. — At  the  commencement 
of  the  investigation  one  should  use  a  lens  or  a  magnify- 
ing-glass  in  order  to  determine  whether  several  adjacent 
characters  have  apparently  been  made  with  the  same 
ink.  They  should  be  viewed  with  a  magnifying- glass  in 
reflected  and  transmitted  light  in  order  to  recognize  a 
variation  in  color,  lustre,  or  thickness  of  the  ink-film. 
Many  inks  blot  on  bad  paper, — that  is,  the  written  char- 
acters surround  themselves  with  a  paler  border ;  other 
inks,  for  example,  such  as  those  which  contain  much 
gum,  do  not  possess  this  characteristic. 

The  lens  determines  this  easily,  but  it  must  not  be 
overlooked  that  many  papers  are  badly  sized,  or  have 
individual  spots  which  are  not  sufficiently  sized,  and 
hence  cause  the  ink  to  flow.  An  ink  rich  in  gum,  or  an 
ink  concentrated  by  evaporation  in  an  inkstand,  gives  a 
more  lustrous  and  thicker  stroke.  Many  inks  sink  deeper 
into  the  material  written  on,  so  that  the  character  can  be 
seen  and  observed  on  the  other  side  of  the  paper  with 
the  lens.  At  the  place  where  written  characters  cross, 
and  these  written  characters  have  been  made  at  difTerent 
times,  or  with  diff'erent  inks,  it  can  often  be  recognized, 
with  the  aid  of  a  lens,  which  character  lies   under  or 


200  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

over  the  other,  and  therefore  which  was  made  first  or 
last.  (See  Chapter  VI.)  If  it  be  necessary  to  employ 
the  microscope,  a  magnifying  power  of  tenfold  linear 
measure  with  a  lateral  illuminating  lens  is  generally 
strong  enough. 


REAGENTS    AND    REACTIONS. 

Oxalic  Acid  (H^C^O^  +  2Aq).— With  a  soft  quill  or 
gold  pen  which  has  been  dipped  in  solution  of  oxalic 
acid  (one  part  acid  to  ten  or  fifteen  parts  of  distilled 
water),  minute  dots  are  made  on,  or  cross-strokes  are 
made  through  the  broader  and  narrower  parts  of  some 
of  the  written  characters,  and  these  are  examined  by  the 
naked  eye  after  drying,  and  with  the  lens.  With  iron- 
holding  inks  a  fading  or  paling  will  occur  more  quickly 
in  fresh  writings,  and  more  slowly  in  old  writings.  Fresh 
characters  traced  in  nutgall  ink  one  or  two  days  before 
the  observation"  disappear  under  oxalic  acid  easily,  or 
become  light  gray  ;  older  characters  become  a  little  paler 
or  gray,  and  the  same  is  true  of  nutgall  ink  with  log- 
wood ;  the  charactars  written  with  alizarine  ink  become 
by  solution  of  oxalic  acid  bluish  or  blue ;  characters 
made  with  logwood  inks,  on  the  other  hand,  orange-red, 
raspberry-red,  or  brownish-red.  Aniline  ink  is  not  ma- 
terially changed. 

Hydrochloric  Acid  (HCl). — The  pen  is  dipped  in 
ten  per  cent,  hydrochloric  acid,  and  strokes  are  made 


AND  DETECTION  OF   FORGERY.  201 

as  before  through  separate  parts  of  the  writing,  and 
allowed  to  dry  without  warming.  Writings  of  nut- 
gall  ink,  if  not  more  than  a  day  old,  become  yellow  ;  if 
older,  yellowish-gray  ;  those  with  nutgall  ink  containing 
logwood,  reddish  or  reddish-gray ;  with  alizarine  ink, 
greenish  ;  logwood  inks,  more  or  less  red ;  aniline  ink, 
more  or  less  reddish  or  brownish-gray. 

It  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  best  commercial 
inks  are  composed  of  iron  tanno-gallate  with  a  perma- 
nent blue  to  make  the  fresh  writing  sufficiently  distinct, 
as  the  black  color  of  the  iron-nutgall  inks  is  produced 
only  after  a  few  days  or  weeks.  In  case  this  blue  col- 
oring-matter be  unaltered  by  dilute  hydrochloric  acid, 
the  effect  of  this  reagent  on  such  an  ink  will  be  to  pro- 
duce a  green  by  the  mechanical  mixture  of  the  yellow 
iron  sesquichloride  with  the  added  blue  substance. 
This  result  may  lead  to  an  erroneous  belief  that  aniline 
black  or  alkali  blue  is  present.^ 

Ammonium  Hydrate  (NH^OH). — This  substance, 
known  in  commerce  simply  as  ammonia  or  hartshorn, 
is  one  of  the  three  strongest  alkalies.  It  is  preferable  as 
a  reagent  to  potassium  or  sodium  hydrates,  because  it  is 
entirely  volatile,  and  any  excess  which  may  be  left  on 

^  This  observation  was  made  by  the  Chemist  of  the  Health 
Department  of  New  York  City,  who  called  the  author's  attention 
to  it  at  the  time  the  latter  was  making  the  chemical  tests  of  inks 
in  the  exhibits  of  "The  People  rs.  Roland  B.  Molineux,"  for  the 
District  Attorney. 


202  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

the  substance  to  which  it  is  appUed  may  be  entirely  ex- 
pelled by  moderate  heat.  Ammonium  hydrate  is  very 
subject  to  the  capillary  action  of  the  paper,  and  runs 
over  a  large  space  outside  of  that  to  which  it  is  applied. 
The  use  of  parallel  strips  of  blotting-paper  is  to  be 
recommended  when  it  is  applied  to  a  written  instru- 
ment. 

In  moist  ammoniacal  air,  or  in  contact  with  caustic 
ammonia,  the  places  in  the  writing  which  have  been 
changed  in  color  by  acids  become  darker  (even  blackish 
violet,  like  the  logwood  inks),  frequently  with  blurred  out- 
lines ;  but  the  writings  least  of  all,  or  not  at  all  darkened 
are  those  made  with  nutgall  ink  and  bleached  by  acids. 

Potassium  Ferrocyanide  (K^Fe(CN)5). — Ferrocyano- 
gen  forms  with  most  metals  compounds  insoluble  in 
water,  and  usually  exhibiting  characteristic  colors.  Its 
compound  with  iron,  even  when  an  infinitesimal  amount 
of  the  latter  is  present  as  a  sesquioxide  or  sesquisalt, 
produces  an  intense  blue — Prussian  blue — which  is  not 
affected  by  hydrochloric  acid,  but  is  dissolved  by  potas- 
sium hydrate. 

In  using  this  reagent  on  a  document  for  the  purpose 
of  proving  the  presence  of  iron  in  the  ink  unusual  pre- 
cautions are  necessary.  In  the  first  place,  as  has  been 
stated  in  the  remarks  on  the  constitution  of  paper, 
small  drops  of  the  reagent  should  be  applied  to  the  paper 
of  the  document,  and  left  each  for  a  minute  at  parts 
where  there  is  no  ink.     If  no  change  of  color  take  place, 


AND   DETECTION  OF   FORGERY.  203 

the  drop  should  be  removed  by  soft  blotting-paper,  and 
its  traces  slill  lurlher  obliterated  by  successive  drops  of 
distilled  water  on  the  same  spot,  also  removed  by  blotting- 
paper. 

The  reagent  should  then  be  applied  in  a  minute  drop 
to  the  ink.  If,  at  the  expiration  of  sixty  seconds,  no 
change  of  color  appear  in  the  drop  or  on  the  paper 
under  it,  the  solution  should  be  removed  by  bibulous 
paper,  and  the  place  washed  by  successive  drops  of  dis- 
tilled water,  which  should  be  allowed  to  stand  for  an 
equal  time,  and  removed  in  the  same  way.  If  the  solu- 
tion be  exposed  to  the  light  and  air  it  will  suffer  decom- 
position, and  part  of  its  iron  contents  will  furnish  the  very 
reaction  for  iron  which  is  sought  in  the  material  to  which 
it  is  applied. 

Documents  which  have  been  tested  by  the  reagent 
without  having  been  subsequently  sufficiently  washed, 
as  above  suggested,  invariably  exhibit  blue  spots  wiiich 
ignorant  or  designing  persons  may  ascribe  to  reactions 
with  the  iron  in  the  ink  or  paper  when  no  iron  was 
present  in  either. 

While  this  reagent  is  valuable,  it  requires  more  care 
than  any  other  to  avoid  leaving  a  stain  on  the  document. 
It  should  not  be  applied  in  drops  broader  than  the  ink 
lines  it  is  meant  to  test,  but  rather  in  very  minute  drops 
lying  wholly  within  the  lines ;  and  the  reaction,  if  any, 
should  be  observed  with  a  glass  magnifying  four  or  five 
diameters.  If  no  reaction  for  iron  be  observed  on  the 
blank  paper,  while  a  reaction  is  seen  wdien  the  reagent 


204  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

touches  the  ink,  the  proof  is  convincing  that  the  color  is 
due  to  the  iron  in  the  ink.^ 

Potassium  Sulphocyanate  (KSCN).— This  reagent, 
when  acidulated,  as  recommended  in  the  table  of  re- 
agents, or,  indeed,  in  all  but  distinctly  alkaline  solutions 
of  iron  sesquioxide  salts,  produces  in  them  an  intense 
red  color,  although  not  a  precipitate. 

This  test  is  one  of  the  most  delicate  in  qualitative 
chemistry,  and,  in  the  absence  of  molybdenum  dioxide 
and  hyponitric  acid  (which,  in  most  cases,  may  be 
safely  assumed),  is  convincing  as  to  the  presence  of  iron 
in  the  ink.  Indeed,  its  very  delicacy,  which  takes  note 
of  the  adventitious  existence  of  the  minutest  particles 


1  This  lest  proved  of  great  value  in  the  Whitaker  will  trial.  A 
will,  purporting  to  have  been  made  by  Robert  Whitaker,  on  the 
7th  of  May,  1875  (a  copy  of  the  last  page  of  which  will  be  found 
among  the  illustrations  of  this  book),  was  presented  for  probate 
upon  his  death  in  1878.  The  appearance  of  the  ink  with  which 
the  signatures  were  written  was  of  that  peculiar  reddish-brown  as- 
sumed by  iron  inks  after  the  lapse  of  several  years.  If  it  were  an 
iron  ink,  therefore,  it  must  give,  with  potassium  ferrocyanide,  the 
blue  color  characteristic  of  this  element.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it 
gave  no  reaction  for  iron,  it  was  no  common  writing-fluid,  but  a 
coloring-matter  chosen  to  imitate  an  oxidized  iron  ink.  So  thought 
the  author,  who  was  requested  to  examine  the  will.  The  writing- 
fluid  proved  to  be  an  unusual  one  containing  no  iron  but  simulating 
old  iron  ink,  and  he  reported  it  to  be  probably  Wi^sor  and  New- 
ton's brown,  which  was  subsequently  corroborated  by  the  con- 
fession of  the  forgers. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  205 

of  ferriferous  substances  in  paper  or  ink,  is  almost  a 
drawback  to  its  use  for  arriving  at  a  conclusion  when  it 
gives  the  reaction  for  iron ;  but  when  even  this  sub- 
stance fails  to  show  the  slightest  trace  of  iron  it  is  use- 
less to  seek  proof  of  such  a  trace  by  any  other  test. 
It  has  also  the  advantage  over  potassium  ferrocyanide 
of  not  containing  iron  within  itself,  which  by  internal 
decomposition  may  produce  the  very  substance  it  is 
employed  to  detect. 

Tartaric  Acid  (HjC^H^Og). — That  of  commerce  is  suffi- 
ciently pure  for  purposes  of  testing.  It  is  to  be  kept 
as  a  powder,  and  a  solution  made  when  required,  for  it 
decomposes  by  exposure  to  light  and  air,  as  can  be  ob- 
served when  a  white  film  forms  on  its  upper  surface. 

Citric  Acid  (HjCeH^O^  +  lAq),  like  tartaric  acid,  is 
useful  in  preventing  iron  sesquioxide  solutions  from  pre- 
cipitation by  alkalies ;  it  dissolves  iron  sesquioxide,  and 
therefore  bleaches  an  ink  of  which  the  dried  film  con- 
tains this  substance. 

Sulphuric  Acid  (H.^SOJ. — The  reactions  of  this  power- 
ful acid  are  well  known.  It  readily  dissolves  the  sesqui- 
salts  of  iron  in  an  ink-film  and  produces  characteristic 
color  reactions  with  the  various  inks. 

Nitric  Acid  (IINO3)  is,  like  the  preceding,  well  known 
to  chemists  and  non-chemists.     It  is  a  powerful  oxidizing 


206  STUDY   OF  HANDAVRITING 

agent  and  solvent,  and  its  salts  are  generally  easily  sol- 
uble in  water. 

Acidified  Tin  Bichloride  (SnCl^.HCl).— This  is  a 
powerful  deoxidizing  or  reducing  agent. 

It  extracts  the  oxygen  present  in  the  ink-film,  and 
breaks  up  the  compounds,  while  the  free  hydrochloric 
acid  removes  the  iron. 

This  reagent  is  difficult  to  preserve  for  use,  and  should 
be  made  when  needed.  It  should  be  kept  in  a  well- 
stoppered  bottle  slightly  acidulated  with  hydrochloric 
acid,  and  some  metallic  tin  should  be  added.  Its  ten- 
dency is  to  form  tin  perchloride,  which  destroys  its  value 
as  a  reagent. 

Gold  Terchloride  (AuCy. — This  solution  is  used  as  a 
strong  oxicUzing  agent.  In  the  act  of  oxidizing  it  pre- 
cipitates metallic  gold  as  a  reddish-brown  powder. 

It  is  not  so  subject  to  change  in  the  reagent-bottle  as 
the  substances  just  considered. 

Ammoniacal  Sodium  Hyposulphite  (Na^S^Oj  + 
NH.OH  4-  Aq). — This  well-known  reagent,  employed 
extensively  in  photography,  has  powerful  reducing  prop- 
erties, and  reacts  on  the  various  constituents  of  inks  with 
characteristic  color  effects  noted  in  the  table  at  the  end 
of  Part  IV. 

Sodium  Hydrate   (NaOH). — This  is   one  of  the  two 

strongest  alkalies,  and  is  employed  both  for  neutralizing 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  207 

acids  previously  applied  to  portions  of  the  paper,  and 
for  its  decomposition  and  color-indications  on  the  mate- 
rials to  which  it  is  applied.     (See  table.) 

Chlorinated  Lime  (CaOCl,). — This  is  simply  the 
bleaching  powder  of  commerce  dissolved  in  water.  It 
has  a  bleaching  and  an  oxidizing  effect,  the  two  being 
due  to  the  same  characteristic,  the  release  of  oxygen  by 
the  free  chlorine  and  the  destruction  of  coloring-matter 
by  the  former.  Like  all  the  other  reagents,  but  with 
greater  reason  than  for  any  except  perhaps  strong  sul- 
phuric and  nitric  acids,  it  should  not  be  left  in  contact 
with  the  document  longer  than  is  necessary  for  the 
observation  of  the  reaction,  otherwise  it  is  liable  to  in- 
jure or  destroy  the  latter. 

Iodine  (I, — crystals). — This  element  is  volatile,  even 
at  ordinary  temperature,  and  is  characterized  by  its 
strong  blue  color  when  brought  in  contact  with  starch. 
Its  uses  are  more  particularly  set  forth  further  on. 
This  reaction  was  supposed  to  be  merely  physical,  but 
the  best  authorities  now  regard  it  as  a  true  chemical 
combination,  and  Mylius  finds  the  starch  compound  to 
contain  eighteen  per  cent,  of  iodine,  of  which  part  is 
hydrogen  iodide,'  and  gives  the  formula  (C.,H,„0,„IJHI. 

Alcohol  (C,H.(OH)). — The  use  of  this  substance  as  a 
test  on  portions  of    a  paper  where   writing  has   been 

1  Sadtler. 


208  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

erased,  and  the  bare  place  has  been  resized  by  means 
of  resin,  soap,  and  paste,  or  other  hke  substances,  has 
been  already  alluded  to.  Besides  this,  however,  it  is 
of  value  in  causing  the  reappearance  of  writing  which 
has  been  rendered  invisible,  as  described  in  the  experi- 
ments of  Chevallier  and  Lassaigne  in  a  succeeding  page. 
Care  is  necessary  in  using  alcohol  on  documents  on  ac^ 
count  of  its  strong  tendency  to  .spread  and  run  over  a 
large  area  of  the  sheet,  carrying  its  stain  and  coloring 
materials  to  a  considerable  distance  from  the  spot  to  be 
tested.  Where  this  would  interfere  with  the  investiga- 
tion, it  is  recommended  to  place  strips  of  blotting-paper 
on  either  side  of  and  close  to  the  spot  to  be  treated  with 
alcohol,  and  to  press  them  firmly  upon  the  document 
before  applying  the  small  drop  of  alcohol  between  them. 


TWO    EXAMPLES    FOR    CHEMICAL    INVESTIGATION. 

Superposition  in  Crossed  Lines. — To  distinguish, 
chemically,  the  ages  of  two  ink-films  which  cross  each 
other ;  whether,  for  instance,  a  crossing  out,  a  writing,  or 
a  blot  were  first  made  (if  iron-nutgall  was  the  ink  used), 
the  place  is  touched  with  a  brush  dipped  in  the  solution 
of  oxalic  acid  described  above,  because  it  can  be  assumed 
that  the  upper  ink-film  will  bleach  sooner  than  the  under 
and  older,  which  has  penetrated  deeper  into  the  paper 
fibres.  If  a  logwood  ink  have  been  used  for  crossing  out, 
it  can  be  made  to  disappear  by  touching  with  ammonia. 
If  the  overlying  ink  is  nutgall  ink,  and  the  writing  log- 


AND   DETECTION   OF   FORGERY.  209 

wood,  the  proper  place  should  be  repeatedly  moistened 
with  oxalic  acid  or  solution  of  potassium  fluoride  acidi- 
fied by  sulphuric  acid  until  it  has  become  so  pale  that 
the  lower  writing  can  be  read. 

During  this  operation  the  moistened  part  should  fre- 
quently be  observed  in  a  good  light.  If  the  ink-film  to 
be  removed  is  very  thin,  and  if  the  writing  covered  by  it 
consist  of  fine  strokes,  it  is  recommended  to  saturate 
blotting-paper  with  the  acid  or  the  ammonia  and  by  tap- 
ping and  pressing  upon  it  to  take  up  the  ink-film.  When 
the  covering  ink-film  is  removed,  if  the  writing  be  more 
or  less  attacked,  it  is  allowed  to  dry  without  warming. 
In  the  case  of  nutgall  inks,  it  is  touched  with  a  small 
quantity  of  a  solution  of  gallic  acid ;  and  in  the  case  of 
logwood  ink,  with  a  very  dilute  solution  of  chloride  of 
copper ;  and  is  again  allowed  to  dry  without  warming. 

Approximate  Age  of  'Writing'. — To  assist  in  deter- 
mining the  ages  of  writings  by  one  and  the  same  ink,  it 
is  to  be  observed  that  the  older  the  writing  the  less 
soluble  it  is  in  dilute  ammonia.  If  the  writing  be  lightly 
touched  \vith  a  brush  dipped  in  ten  per  cent,  ammonia, 
the  later  writing  should,  theoretically,  always  give  up 
more  or  less  soluble  matter  to  the  ammonia  before  the 
earlier.  In  case  of  inks  of  different  kinds  this  test  is  not 
serviceable,  for  characters  written  in  logwood  ink,  for 
instance,  will  give  up  their  soluble  material  sooner  than 
nutgall  inks,  even  if  the  last  named  be  later  applied.  An 
estimate  of  the  age  of  a  writing  from  the  amount  of 
bleaching  in  a  given  time  by  hydrochloric  or  oxalic  acid 

14 


210  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

is  very  unreliable,  because  the  thickness  of  the  ink-film 
in  a  written  character  is  not  always  the  same,  and  the 
acid  bleaches  the  thinner  layer  sooner  than  the  thicker. 

(See  later  to  determine  the  age  of  a  writing  according 
to  Carre). 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  rules  as  to  compara- 
tive solubility,  etc.,  of  similar  substances  which  have 
been  exposed  to  a  constant  decomposition  for  different 
lengths  of  time,  are  applicable  inversely  to  the  amount 
of  the  difference  in  length  between  the  period  which 
elapsed  between  the  latest  of  the  writings  and  the  date  of 
observation,  and  that  between  the  dates  of  the  writings 
themselves.  For  example,  if  a  year  elapsed  between 
the  date  of  the  latest  writing  and  the  observation,  and  a 
month  between  the  two  writings,  it  should  be  easy  to 
detect  which  was  the  older.  But  after  a  lapse  of  ten 
years  it  is  very  doubtful  if  a  difference  of  age  could  be 
shown,  unless  the  two  writings  crossed  each  other,  when 
the  order  in  which  the  intersecting  marks  were  placed 
upon  the  paper  can  usually  be  ascertained  at  any  subse- 
quent date.  But  it  is  seldom,  if  ever,  possible  to  fix  the 
length  of  the  period  which  elapsed  between  two  writings. 


HAGER  S    METHOD. 

Reagents  used  by  Forgers. — The  forging  of  papers 
by  the  removal  of  written  characters  may  be  accom- 

^  Hager's  Untersuchungen,  Zweiter  Band  :  Leipzig,  Ernst  Giin- 
thers  Verlag,  1888. 


AND   DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  211 

plisherl  in  one  of  two  ways, — cither  by  erasure  or  by 
washing  with  chemical  reagents. 

The  erased  place  is  usually  covered  by  rubbing 
with  sandarach  powder,  an  alum  powder,  or  a  partial 
sizing. 

To  the  chemical  washing  reagents  belong  oxalic  acid, 
citric  acid,  hydrochloric  acid,  potassium  oxalate,  chlorine, 
chlorinated  lime  solution,  and  acid  sodium  sulphite.  For 
the  purpose  of  establishing  a  forgery  of  writing  of  this 
kind,  observe  the  surface  of  the  paper,  whether  it  is 
rough  or  smooth,  whether  the  particular  place  exhibit 
any  difference  in  reflected  and  in  transmitted  light,  as 
well  as  by  feeling  with  the  fingers.  The  place  in  question 
is  either  rough  or  smooth,  or  rubbed  with  the  previously 
mentioned  powders,  or  it  possesses  a  greater  transpar- 
ency and  is  thinner. 

In  hand-made  paper  (which  at  present  is  but  rarely 
met  with,  and  is  but  superficially  sized)  the  erased 
places  are  easier  to  detect  than  in  machine-made 
paper. 

The  sizing  which  is  applied  to  ordinary  writing-paper 
is  a  paste  holding  resin  soap.  In  order  to  heighten  the 
wliite  of  the  paper,  a  blue  material,  either  ultramarine  or 
Berlin  blue,  is  added.  On  the  other  hand,  almost  every 
paper  contains  traces  of  iron  derived  from  the  water 
which  is  used  in  its  manufacture. 

If  the  forgery  of  the  writing  have  been  effected  by  the 
aid  of  chemical  means,  certain  changes  in  the  color  of 
the  paper  Avill  be  noticeable.     On  the  places  in  question 


212  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

will  be  found  gray,  yellow,  or  white  spots,  recognizable 
in  reflected  and  transmitted  light. 

Reag-ents  in  the  Cold. — A  piece  of  slightly  moist 
litmus  paper  is  laid  on  the  suspected  place  and  pressed 
strongly.  If  acid  still  stick  to  the  document's  surface 
(oxalic,  citric),  the  litmus  paper  will  be  reddened.  After 
this  test  the  suspected  area  is  exposed  to  the  action  of 
ammonia  gas,  by  laying  it  on  a  beaker  glass  in  which  is 
some  spirit  of  sal  ammoniac.  In  an  hour  the  parts  of 
the  paper  where  the  ink-decomposing  reagents  acted  will 
have  shown  themselves  changed,  or  the  written  charac- 
ters which  have  been  disturbed  will  appear  in  some  dif- 
ferent shade  or  color.  If  the  change  have  taken  place 
in  consequence  of  the  action  of  ammonia  gas,  but  only 
with  moderate  distinctness,  the  place  is  touched  over 
gently  with  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  dilute  ammonia 
and  ninety  per  cent,  alcohol.  If  nothing  appear  by  this 
method,  the  moistened  place  is  allowed  to  become  dry 
and  then  is  painted  over  with  a  solution  of  one  part 
gallic  acid  or  gallo-tannic  acid  in  twenty  parts  of  forty- 
five  per  cent,  alcohol.  If  particles  of  iron  oxide  from 
the  decomposed  written  characters  are  found  in  the  mass 
of  the  paper  fibre,  they  will  now  appear  perhaps  some- 
what blurred.  If  the  paper  contain  in  itself  oxide  of 
iron  (recognizable  by  the  yellow  or  brownish-yellow 
color),  it  is  advisable,  instead  of  gallic  acid  or  gallo-tannic 
acid,  to  employ  a  dilute  solution  of  potassium  ferrocyanide 
in  water.  This  latter  is  to  be  recommended  if  the  above 
acids  have  given  no  result. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  213 

If  the  ink  with  which  the  decomposed  letters  were 
made  contained  copper  salts,  or  iron  and  copper  salts, 
this  should  insure  a  reaction. 

Keating'  in  Presence  of  Reagents. — Heating  the 
paper  with  chemical  reagents  is  recommended  (by  Chev- 
allicr  and  Lassaigne)  in  the  investigation  of  forgeries.  The 
paper,  previously  moistened  with  alcohol,  should  be 
heated  directly  at  the  fire,  or  laid  between  two  paper 
sheets  and  pressed  by  a  hot  iron  until  the  upper  sheet 
browns  feebly,  or  becomes  the  color  of  chamois  skin. 
This  operation  must  be  conducted  with  the  greatest 
caution. 

Another  experiment  recommended  consists  in  the 
action  of  iodine  vapor  on  the  paper.  A  few  iodine  crys- 
tals are  placed  in  a  flat  glass  vessel  which  is  covered  by 
the  suspected  parts  of  the  paper.  In  fifteen  to  thirty 
minutes  the  paper  will  have  been  colored  yellowish, 
and  the  erased  portions,  or  the  places  which  con- 
tained writing,  will  appear  surrounded  by  a  colored 
border. 

It  is,  nevertheless,  advisable  that  a  previous  experi- 
ment be  made  with  the  same  paper  in  order  to  ascertain 
its  behavior  to  iodine.  If  it  be  colored  very  deeply  by 
iodine  vapor,  the  color  can  be  again  removed  by  vapor  of 
ammonia. 

Whether  the  one  or  the  other  reagent  be  employed,  a 
preliminary  experiment  with  the  same  paper  is  always  to 
be  undertaken  in  order  to  observe  its  behavior  to  the  re- 
agent. 


214  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

Cases  can  very  well  occur  where  a  reagent  cannot  be 
employed,  if  the  paper  thereby  will  be  darkly  colored.^ 

Determination  of  Ag-e. — The  determination  of  the 
age  of  a  written  paper  is  a  problem  difficult  of  solution. 
According  to  F.  Carre  the  age  can  be  approximately 
determined  if  the  characters  written  in  iron  ink  are 
pressed  in  a  copying-press,  a  commercial  hydrochloric 
acid  diluted  with  eleven  parts  of  water  being  substituted 
for  the  Waaler  as  ordinarily  used ;  or,  if  the  written  char- 
acters be  treated  for  some  time  with  this  diluted  acid. 

The  explanation  is  that  the  ink  changes  in  time ;  its 
organic  substance  disappears  little  by  little,  and  leaves 
behind  an  iron  compound,  which  in  part  is  not  attacked 
even  by  acids. 

An  unsized  paper  is  impregnated  with  the  described 
dilute  acid,  and  a  copy  taken  by  means  of  a  press.  A 
copy  from  a  writing  eight  or  ten  years  old  can  be  ob- 
tained as  easily  as  one  by  means  of  water  from  a  writing 
one  day  old. 

A  writing  thirty  years  old  gives,  by  this  method,  a  copy 
hardly  legible,  and  one  over  sixty  years  old,  a  copy  hardly 
visible. 

In  order  to  protect  the  paper  against  the  action  of  the 
acid,  it  should  be  drawn  through  ammoniacal  water  after 
the  experiment. 

^  For  documents  the  paper  should  be  manufactured  from  a  pulp 
which  has  received  an  addition  of  potassium  ferrocyanide,  caustic 
ammonia,  and  protochloride  of  iron. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  215 

Sympathetic  Inks. — The  discovery  and  ]3roof  of  the 
use  of  sympathetic  ink  are  sometimes  required  of  the 
expert.  Sohitions  of  salts  of  cobalt,  nickel,  lead,  copper, 
ferrous  oxide,  mercurous  oxide,  potassium  ferrocyanide, 
besides  solution  of  potassium  iodide,  diluted  sulphuric 
acid,  onion-juice,  tannic  acid,  gallic  acid,  and  radish- 
juice,  furnish  material  for  sympathetic  inks. 

First,  heat  must  be  applied,  the  paper  being  held  over  a 
lamp  with  a  glass  cylinder  until  a  slight  browning  occurs. 

Characters  made  with  cobalt  salt  appear  blue,  those 
with  nickel  salt  green,  those  with  the  sulphuric  acid  and 
plant-juice  gray  or  blackish. 

If  the  w^arming  produce  no  result,  cross-lines  are  made 
across  the  paper  sheet  by  means  of  a  very  soft  goose- 
quill  dipped  in  a  reagent. 

The  appropriate  reagents  are  :  1,  gallo-tannic  acid  ;  2, 
potassium  ferrocyanide  acidified  with  a  little  sulphuric 
acid ;  3,  hydrogen-sulphide  water ;  4,  ammonium  sul- 
phide ;  5,  copper  vitriol ;  6,  iron  vitriol ;  7,  solution  of 
potassium  iodide  ;  8,  caustic  ammonia ;  9,  lime-water. 

Procedure. — Blotting-paper  is  saturated  with  the  par- 
ticular reagent  which  is  to  produce  a  color  reaction,  and 
pressed  strongly  on  the  paper  containing  the  invisilDle 
writing ;  or  the  latter  is  drawn  quickly  through  a  dilute 
solution  of  the  reagent.  If  neither  heating  nor  re- 
agent produce  a  result,  vapor  of  iodine  is  allowed  to 
act  upon  it,  by  laying  the  paper  in  a  saucer  or  plate,  of 
which  the  bottom  is  covered  with  iodine  crystals ;  and  if 
in  this  way  no  result  be  obtained,  the  paper  is  strewn 


216  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

with  burnt  ivory  or  fine  charcoal  powder,  and  a  sheet  of 
paper  is  laid  over  it  and  pressed.  When  the  charcoal 
powder  is  removed  by  light  tapping,  enough  dust  remains 
in  contact  with  the  written  characters,  which  have  been 
made  with  some  indifferent  substance  (dextrin,  gum, 
glue,  etc.),  to  render'the  writing  legible. 

Writings  with  sympathetic  inks  are  not  always  to  be 
sought  on  sheets  of  apparently  plain  white  paper ;  more 
frequently  they  are  found  on  the  margins  or  between  the 
lines  of  epistles  written  with  black  ink,  on  the  margins 
of  printed  documents,  or  the  parts  of  notes  uncovered 
by  writing. 

If  the  piece  of  writing  be  observed  in  oblique  illumi- 
nation, some  of  the  written  characters  usually  fainter 
than  the  ordinary  text  can  be  seen,  if  not  deciphered. 

The  paper  may  also  be  laid  between  glass  plates  and 
observed  by  transmitted  sunlight. 


BAUDRIMONT    METHOD.^ 

Reagents  needed. — The  reagents  needed  in  this  inves- 
tigation are  alcohol,  reagent  papers,  silver  nitrate,  and 
some  others. 

Distilled  water  is  very  useful  in  many  cases  to  ascer- 
tain whether  the  paper  has  been  scratched  and  partially 
sized  or  treated  with  resin.     If  it  has  not  been  altered 

^  Dictionnaire  des  alterations  et  falsifications  des  substances  ali- 
mentaires,  etc.,  par  E.  Baudrimont.     Paris  :  Asselin  et  Cie,  1882. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  217 

by  chemical  agents,  this  partial  resizing  and  the  resinous 
matter  employed  give  it  a  peculiar  appearance.  Sizing 
takes  away  from  its  whiteness  and,  thinned  by  the 
scratching  or  washing,  it  absorbs  water  much  more 
quickly,  even  when  it  has  been  partially  resized. 

Mode  of  Operation. — Place  the  document  suspected 
of  being  a  forgery  on  a  sheet  of  white  paper  or,  better 
still,  on  a  piece  of  glass;  then  moisten  all  parts  of  it, 
little  by  little,  by  means  of  a  paint-brush,  paying  close 
attention  to  the  behavior  of  the  liquid  as  it  comes  in 
contact  with  the  paper. 

"Water. — By  means  of  water  one  can  discover  what 
acids,  alkalis,  or  salts  the  parts  of  the  paper  with  colored 
borders  or  white  spots  contain. 

With  the  aid  of  a  pipette  cover  these  spots  with  water 
and  let  it  remain  for  ten  or  fifteen  minutes ;  then  with 
the  pipette  remove  the  liquid  and  examine  the  products 
it  holds  in  solution.  Afterwards  make  a  comparative 
experiment  on  another  part  of  the  paper  which  is  neither 
spotted  nor  whitened. 

If  the  original  writing  have  been  done  with  a  very  acid 
ink  on  a  paper  containing  a  carbonate,  such  as  calcium 
carbonate,  the  ink,  in  attacking  the  calcareous  salt,  stains 
the  paper,  so  that  if  the  forger  have  removed  the  ferru- 
ginous salts  this  removal  is  denoted  by  the  semi-trans- 
parence that  water  gives  to  the  paper. 

To  study  carefully  the  action  of  the  water  it  is  neces- 
sary to  repeat  the  experiment  several  times,  allowing  the 
paper  to  dry  thoroughly  before  recommencing  it. 


218  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

Alcohol. — According  to  Tarry,  it  is  necessary  to  have 
recourse  to  alcohol  to  discover  whether  the  paper  has 
been  scratched  in  any  of  the  parts  and  then  covered  with 
a  resinous  matter  to  prevent  the  ink  from  blotting. 

Place  the  document  on  a  sheet  of  white  paper  and 
with  a  paint-brush  dipped  in  alcohol  of  specific  gravity 
about  0.86  cover  the  place  supposed  to  have  been  tam- 
pered with.  It  may  be  discovered  if  the  writing  thickens 
and  runs  when  the  alcohol  has  dissolved  the  resin. 

Hold  the  paper  moistened  with  alcohol  between  the 
eye  and  the  light :  the  thinning  of  the  paper  shows  the 
work  of  the  forger. 

Some  more  skilful  forgers  use  paste  and  resin  at  the 
same  time  to  mask  their  fraudulent  operations ;  in  this 
case  lukewarm  water  should  be  first  employed  and  then 
alcohol ;  water  to  dilute  the  paste,  and  alcohol  to  dissolve 
the  resin.  The  result  is  that  the  added. ink  spreads  on 
the  places  scratched,  and  the  forgery  is  easily  seen. 

Test-papers. — Test-papers  (litmus,  mauve,  and 
Georgina  paper)  serve  to  determine  whether  a  paper 
has  been  washed  either  with  chemical  agents,  and  the 
acids  incompletely  removed  or  their  surplus  saturated 
by  an  alkali,  or  by  alkaline  substances.  The  change  of 
the  color  to  red  indicates  an  acid  substance ;  an  alkali 
would  turn  the  reddened  litmus  paper  to  blue,  and  the 
mauve  and  Georgina  test-papers  to  green. 

Take  a  sheet  of  test-paper  of  the  same  dimensions  as 
the  document  to  be  examined,  moisten  it,  and  cover  it 
underneath  with  a  sheet  of  Swedish  filter-paper.     These 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY.  219 

two  sheets  together  (the  filter-paper  underneath)  are  then 
applied  to  the  document  which  has  been  moistened 
already.  Tlir  whole  is  then  laid  between  two  quires  of 
paper,  covered  by  a  weighted  board,  and  left  in  contact 
for  about  an  hour. 

At  the  end  of  this  time  examine  the  test-paper  to  see 
if  it  has  partly  or  entirely  changed  color.  This  exami- 
nation finished,  add  to  the  test-paper  distilled  water, 
which  may  be  afterwards  removed  and  appropriately 
tested,  to  discover  the  nature  of  the  alkali  or  acid 
present.  Instead  of  test-papers,  tinctures  of  litmus, 
mauve,  or  purple  dahlia  may  be  used. 

Silver  Nitrate. — Silver  nitrate  is  used  to  discover 
whether  the  paper  has  been  washed  with  chlorine  or 
chlorides.  A  paper  in  that  way  becomes  acid.  The 
chlorine  changes  to  hydrochloric  acid,  which  dissolves 
in  the  water  with  which  the  suspected  document  is 
moistened,  and  at  the  contact  of  silver  nitrate  little  spots 
of  silver  chloride  appear. 

Various  other  Tests. — Certain  reagents,  such  as 
gallo-tannic  acid  or  infusion  of  nutgalls  prepared  a  short 
time  before,  potassium  ferrocyanide,  alkaline  sulphites, 
and  hydrogen  sulphide,  may  all  be  used  with  advan- 
tage to  restore  writings  that  have  been  removed  by 
washing.  Place  the  document  on  a  sheet  of  white  paper 
and  moisten  the  whole  of  its  surface  with  a  paint- 
brush dipped  in  the  reagent,  taking  care  not  to  rub  it  or 
strongly  press  it.  When  the  surface  is  well  impregnated 
allow  the  solution  to  act  for  an  hour,  and  at  the  end  of 


220  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

this  time  examine  the  document  again.  Then  moisten  it 
a  second  time,  and  the  following  day  examine  the  results. 
Repeat  the  moistening  several  times  if  necessary,  for  it 
often  takes  some  time  to  make  the  traces  of  writing 
reappear. 

Use  of  the  Vapor  of  Iodine. — Chevallier  and  Las- 
saigne  experimented  together  on  the  effect  produced  by 
the  vapor  of  iodine  on  the  surface  of  papers  or  documents 
upon  which  the  alteration  of  writing  was  suspected. 
Take  a  bottle  with  a  wide  mouth  from  ten  to  eleven 
centimeters  in  height,  and  the  opening  from  five  to  six 
centimeters  in  width.  This  last  is  covered  by  a  disk  of 
unpolished  glass.  Into  the  bottom  of  this  vessel  intro- 
duce from  twenty  to  thirty  grams  of  iodine  in  crystals. 

Place  the  portion  of  paper  on  which  the  vapor  of 
iodine  is  to  act  at  the  opening  of  the  bottle,  and  cover  it 
with  the  disk  of  unpolished  glass,  on  which  put  a 
weight  so  as  to  exert  a  slight  pressure,  and  in  order  that 
the  aperture  may  be  hermetically  closed.  Then  allow 
the  vapor  of  iodine  to  act  on  the  dry  paper  for  three  or 
four  minutes  at  the  temperature  of  15°  to  16°  (Cent.) 
and  examine  it  attentively.  When  the  surface  has  not 
been  spotted  by  any  liquid  (water,  alcohol,  salt  water, 
vinegar,  saliva,  tears,  urine,  acids,  acid-salts,  or  alkalis)  a 
uniform  pale-yellow  or  yellowish-brown  tinge  will  be 
noticed  on  all  parts  of  the  paper  exposed  to  the  vapor 
of  iodine.  Otherwise  a  different  and  easily  distinguished 
tinge  shows  itself  on  the  surface  that  has  been  moistened 
and  then  dried  in  the  open  air. 


AND  DETECTION   OF  FORGERY.  221 

Machine-made  papers  with  starchy  and  resinous  sizing 
give  such  decided  reactions  that  sometimes  it  is  possible 
to  distinguish  by  the  color  the  portion  of  the  paper 
treated  with  alcohol  from  that  moistened  with  water. 
The  spot  produced  by  alcohol  takes  a  bistre-yellow  tinge  ; 
that  formed  by  water  becomes  a  violet-blue,  more  or  less 
deep,  after  having  dried  at  an  ordinary  temperature.  As 
to  the  spots  produced  by  other  aqueous  liquids,  they 
approach  in  appearance  (though  not  in  intensity)  those 
occasioned  by  pure  water.  Feeble  acids,  or  those  diluted 
by  water,  act  like  water ;  but  the  concentrated  mineral 
acids,  in  altering  more  or  less  the  substances  of  the 
sizing,  produce  spots  that  present  differences. 

The  spots  which  become  apparent  in  using  the  vapor 
of  iodine  are  due  to  chemical  agents  whose  strength  has 
altered  either  the  fibres  of  the  surface,  or  the  paste 
uniting  them.  For  this  reason  stamped  papers,  whose 
preparation  and  sale  are  superintended  by  the  French, 
or  other,  governments,  are  less  easy  to  falsify  than  ordi- 
nary machine-made  papers. 

In  a  word,  the  test  of  a  paper  by  vapor  of  iodine  has 
the  double  advantage  of  indicating  the  place  of  the  sup- 
posed alteration  and  operating  afterwards  with  appro- 
priate reagents  to  bring  back  the  traces  of  ink.  The 
appearance  of  former  letters  or  figures  written  or  effaced 
demonstrates  forgery. 

The  difference  of  the  action  of  the  vapor  of  iodine  on 
the  surface  of  a  paper  which  is  not  homogeneous  permits 
one  to  judge  whether  or  not  it  has  received,  in  certain 


222  STUDY  OF  HANDWRITING 

parts  limited  in  area,  a  fine  layer  of  some  glutinous  matter 
(gum,  gelatin,  or  flour  paste)  to  make  it  adhere  to  other 
sheets  of  paper. 

This  method  of  testing  may  be  tried  at  the  same  time 
^\dth  that  which  consists  in  proving  this  addition,  either 
by  the  reflection  of  incident  light  on  paper  inclined  at  a 
certain  angle  or  by  the  transmission  of  daylight  or  arti- 
ficial light  through  the  same  paper. 

Machine-made  papers  and  stamped  papers  take  a  violet- 
blue  color  in  the  parts  covered  by  starchy  paste,  but 
with  the  first  a  more  intense  color  is  produced  in  the 
parts  treated  with  a  thin  layer  of  gum  arable,  fish-glue, 
or  gelatin,  whereas  these  same  substances  spread  on 
certain  parts  of  the  surface  of  stamped  papers  become 
neither  darker  nor  yellower  than  the  parts  free  from  it : 
nevertheless  on  looking  at  the  light  incident  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  paper  held  obliquely,  it  is  easy  to  distinguish 
the  parts  to  which  these  various  substances  have  been 
applied. 


Table  V.  is  a  useful  compendium  of  the  more  usual 
tests  which  may  be  applied  to  the  inks  of  written  docu- 
ments. It  was  published  originally  in  the  Pharmaceu- 
tische  Central-Halle,  Neue  Folge,  1892,  No.  13,  p.  225,  by 
A.  Robertson  and  J.  Hofmann,  and  has  been  amplified 
by  the  insertion  of  various  notes  made  by  the  author 
of  this  book  since  that  time. 


AND  DETECTION  OF  FORGERY. 


223 


55 


op       ca       "S 


«      K 


fi    n 


SS; 

P5 


_^  ,— .  ^-      ^^       -C 


—  .£? 


K 


o  o 


o  g  5 
S  "5 


c3 

a 


c3  a 

C  3 


-a    -o     "C 


D       t3       & 


is  =s 


S.2§ 


S     S 


£  =  §§ 

o  >  u  >- 

P5  W 


g£p 


.>% 


o  6      c 


ca  o    cs  o 

o     o 


3  3 


^     -O       C 

S        «        « 


-:;  ^  t  >*•  o  ^ 

tr.  5  3  33  mS  — 

o  t-  j;  ¥  =  c  ^ 

«  «  3 


'tf 


o        o         "2, 


■CT3 

«a5 


«     C5     « 


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p;       o — e« 


3  >.         T3 


p.    .a     435 


O     H. 


KG      a 


_     > 


o    ,1 


c  ■-  „• 

eS  X  g 


=^•59 


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K1 

o'-  OS 

ill 


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c  i- 


W         -B  rH  O  S..^.  ^  w  .S  ^  3 


S-i  M  —  y. . 


9.:=^" 

d'^3 

.?-iia 

i'~^ 

'A<-:^ 

ti  — :^/!; 

3  -a 


224  STUDY  OF  •  HANDWRITING. 

(a)  The  formula  of  haematoxylin,  the  coloring  matter  of  log- 
wood, is  C16H14O6  +  3Aq. 

(b)  Coupler's  gray,  or  Nigrosin,  is  prepared  by  heating  nitro- 
phenol  with  aniline  and  aniline  hydrochlorate.  The  alcohol- 
soluble  compound  is  the  simple  salt  of  the  base,  while  the  sodium 
sulphonate  forms  the  water-soluble  compound. 

Coupler's  blue  is  Induline,  made  by  heating  amido-azo-benzene 
with  aniline  to  160°  C.     (Sadtler,  Industr.  Org.  Chem.) 

(c)  "Magenta,"  or  "Aniline  Red,"  is  the  chlorhydrate  of  Ro- 
saniline.  The  introduction  of  the  phenyl  group,  CgHs,  into  this 
molecule  changes  the  red  through  violet  shades  into  blue.  Hence, 
triphenyl-rosaniline  chlorhydrate  is  "Aniline Blue."  This  color, 
which  is  spirit-soluble,  is  made  water-soluble  by  sulphonating, 
and  is  thus  known  as  "alkali  blue"  or  "water  blue." 

The  Rosaniline  molecule  is  : 

r  C6H3(CH3)NH2. 
"   (OH)ci   C6H4.     NH2. 
[  CeHj.     NH2. 
(rf)  See  Vanadium  inks,  p.  191. 
(e)  The  Resorcin  molecule  is  C6H4(OH)2. 

(/)  For  aniline  black,  aniline  chlorhydrate  is  carefully  oxidized  : 
KCIO3,  and  CUSO4  and  NH4  Vanadate  are  used. 


APPENDIX. 


A. 

Formulas  for  determining  the  absolute  absorptive 

POWER  op  a  given  INK-MARK  FOR  SPECIFIED  COLORED  RATS,  IN 
UNITS  OP  A  STANDARD  WHITE  LIGHT,  BY  MEASUREMENTS  OF 
THE  RESPECTIVE  THICKNESSES  OP  COLORED-GLASS  PRISMS  AT 
WHICH  A  MAXIMUM  DARKENING  OCCURS  WITH  A  GIVEN  ANGLE 
OP  THE  INCIDENT  RAY. 

BY    GEORGE    H.    HALLETT,    PH.D.,   UNIVERSITY    OF    PENNSYLVANIA. 

Let  it  be  required  to  measure  the  absorptive  power  of  an  ink-line  for 

the  red,  the  yellow,  and  the  blue  rays  by  means  of  red,  of  yellow, 

and  of  blue  glass,  respectively. 

Let  R  =  the  coefficient  of  absorption  of  the  yellow  and  blue  rays  of 
standard  white  light  by  the  standard  red  glass  prism 
(i.e.,  the  fraction  of  total  yellow  and  blue  rays  which  a 
thickness  of  one  millimeter  of  the  red  prism  will  absorb). 

Let  Y  =  the  coefficient  of  absorption  of  the  red  and  blue  rays  of 
standard  white  light  by  the  standard  yellow  prism. 

Let  B  =  the  coefficient  of  absorption  of  the  rod  and  yellow  rays  of 
standard  white  light  by  the  standard  bliie  prism. 

Let  R^  =  the  fraction  of  the  yellow  and  blue  rays  absorbed  by  the 
ink-line  under  the  red  prism. 

Let  Y^  =  the  fraction  of  the  red  and  blue  rays  absorbed  by  the  ink- 
line  under  the  yellow  prism. 

Let  B''  r=  the  fraction  of  the  red  and  yellow  rays  absorbed  by  the  ink- 
line  under  the  blue  prism. 

Let  e     =  Angle  of  prism  BOA. 

Then  :  The  fraction  of  the  yellow  and  blue  rays  absorbed  by  the  red 
prism  at  point  {a,b.^c)  =  (CH  -!-  HJ)  R. 
The  fraction  of  the  red  and  blue  rays  absorbed  by  the  yellow 

prism  at  point  {ri,b,c)  ^  (CH  +  HJ)  Y. 
The  fraction  of  the  red  and  yellow  rays  absorbed  by  the  blue 
prism  at  point  {a,b,c)  —  (CH  -f  HJ)  B. 

15  225 


226 


APPENDIX. 


The  axes  of  reference  are  taken  as  indicated  in  Tig.   1,  and  the 
coordinates  of  the  point  C  are  a,  J,  and  c,  where  a  and  c  are  arbitrary 


Pig.  1. 


and  I  depends  on  a,  through  the  rehition  b  =^  a  tan  e,  in  which  0  is 
the  prism  angle. 

Fig.  2. 


^      "--^ 


In  Fig.  2,  DCG  is  normal  to  the  surface  ZOM  (Fig.  1),  the  point 
G  being  in  the  plane  ZOX. 


APPENDIX.  227 

The  incident  ray  EC  is  prolonged  in  the  plane  BI,  determining 
with  CG  a  plane  CFG  in  which  the  refracted  ray  CII  is  found. 

The  coordinates  of  the  points  C,  H,  and  J  are  deduced,  and  from 
these  the  lengths  of  CH  and  HJ  are  written  down. 

The  equation  of  the  plane  MOZ  is 

—  X  sin  0  -{-  y  cos  e  ^  0. 

The  equations  of  CD  are 

X  —  a  y  —  b  2  —  c 

—  sin  e  cos  0  0 

{y  —  h)  tan  9  +  (.r  —  «)  —0^ 
z  ^  c  > 

The  equations  of  EC  are 

X  —  a   y  —  b   z  —  c 

0  sin  J  cosj' 

(3/  — *)  =  (2  —  '^)  tan  j\ 
X  ^^  a  > 

The  equations  of  CH  are 

X  —  a  y  —  b  2  —  c 

P  1  s      ' 

in  which  jo,  q,  and  s  are  given  by  the  relations 

cos  r  =  — JO  sin  0  -\-  q  cos  e, 
cos  (i  —  r)  -^  q  sin_j  -|-  s  cos  J, 

0  =^p  cot  6  -\-  q  —  s  tan  j. 

On  solving  these  equations  the  actual  values  of  p^  q,  s  are  as 
follows  : 

cos  (^  —  r)  cos  6  sin  e  sin  J  —  cos  r  sin  e 

sin  ^fl  -|-  cos  ^6  cos  *J 

sin  '9  cos  {i  —  r)  sin  j  -j-  cos  ^j  cos  r  cos  0 

s\n''0  -{-   cos  "0  cos  *J 

cos  j  cos  {i  —  r)  —  cos  j  sin  j  cos  9  cos  r 

sin  *d  -f-  cos  ^0  cos  '^j 

By  making  use  of  the  relation 

cos  i  ■=.  sin  J  cos  9, 


228  APPENDIX. 

these  values  are  expressed  in  the  following  form  : 

sin  9  sin  (r  —  t) 

P  — r-^ ', 

sin  I 

cos  r  sin  i  —  sin  ^«  sin  (i  —  r) 

q  —  :—_ — ^ ^, 

sin  I  cos  9 

sin  r  cos  j 


Coordinates  of  point  H  are  obtained  by  placing  3/  =  0  in  equations 
of  CH, 

,^  -^  =  --±=^  ?^=^  and  y-=0, 
p  q  s 

or  X  -=  a  —  ^~ ,  y  ■=  0,  z  -=  c . 

q  q 

The  equation  of  plane  CHJ  is 

s  [x  —  a)  —  p  [z  —  c)  -^  0. 

Equations  of  HJ  are 

,    pb  I    bs 

q  —  y_  — 1 


-p  q  —s 

Coordinates  of  J  are  given  by 

,    y^b                                ,     bs 
y  z=  X  tan  e,  2.  ^^  -2_  =  i-, 

~p  q  — « 

and  are,  therefore, 

qa  —  pb       {qa  —  pb)  tan  e 

q  -\-  p  tan  9       q  ^  P  tan  9 

[qc  —  bs)  -\-  {pc  —  as)  tan  9 

q  -\-  p  tan  9 

The  length  of  H J  is  given  by 

TT  -J- [qa  — ■  pb)  tan  0 

q  {q  -\-  P  tan  9 ) 
and  that  of  CH  by 

CH^l. 

q 

By  adding  the  values  of  HJ  and  CH  and  making  use  of  the  rela- 
tion  —  =^  tan  0,  the  following  simple  expression  is  obtained  : 
a 

CH  +  HJ  =      ^"^      . 

aq  -\-  pb 


APPENDIX.  229 

From  d  priori  considerations  it  is  evident  that  any  alteration  in  the 
value  of  the  coordinate  c  will  not  affect  the  value  of  CH  -f  HJ,  and 
it  is  to  be  noted  that  the  analytical  expression  for  this  sum  is  a  func- 
tion of  the  coordinate  «,  the  value  of  which  may  bo  read  from  a 
millimeter  scale  at  the  time  of  the  experiment. 

The  color  value  of  a  given  ink-line,  or  its  power  of  absorbing  the 
red,  yellow,  and  blue  rays  respectively,  will  be  obtained  in  terms  of 
the  units  of  absorption  by  the  standard  red,  yellow,  and  blue  prisms 
respectively  of  standard  white  light  by  the  following  equations,  in 
which  A  represents  the  fraction  of  yellow  and  blue  rays  found  by 
experiment  to  be  absorbed  by  both  standard  red  prism  and  the  ink-line 
under  observation  ;  D  represents  the  fraction  of  the  red  and  blue  rays 
found  by  experiment  to  be  absorbed  by  both  standard  yellow  prism 
and  the  ink-line  under  observation ;  and  E  represents  the  fraction  of 
the  red  and  yellow  rays  found  by  experiment  to  be  absorbed  by  both 
the  standard  blue  prism  and  the  ink-line  under  observation. 

K^  =  A  -  (CH  +  HJ)  K. 
Y^=  D  —  (CH  +  HJ)  Y. 
B^  =E  —  (CH  +  HJ)  B. 


The  photomicrographs  of  pen  and  pencil  marks  (Plates  IV.,  VII., 
VIII.,  IX.,  and  IX  a)  were  made  with  a  projecting  microscope  of 
Williams,  Brown  &  Earle,  in  connection  with  an  ordinary  copying 
or  enlarging  camera.  The  microscope  was  fitted  with  a  Beck  one- 
third  inch  objective,  and  a  Williams,  Brown  &  Earle  corrected  and 
adjustable  ocular. 

The  most  difficult  part  of  the  operation  was  the  illumination  of 
the  paper  and  the  mark.  This  was  accomplished  by  using  a  Beck 
illuminator,  the  principle  of  which  is  here  shown.  A  beam  of 
light,  L,  is  admitted  through  a  side  opening  and  strikes  a  circular 
disk,  C  (microscope  slide  cover-glass),  set  obliquely,  as  shown.  A 
portion  of  the  light  is  reflected  down  through  the  objective  and  is 


230 


APPENDIX. 


focussed  by  the  objective  on  the  object  to  be  photographed.     The 
proper  diffusion  of  the  light  is  secured  by  means  of  auxiUary  lenses. 


^ 


\^/ 


c. 


Extracts  from  a  paper  on 


THE  IDENTIFICATION  OF   COLORED  INKS  BY  THEIR  AB- 
SORPTION SPECTRA.^ 


BY    DR.    CHARLES   A.    DOREMUS. 

The  substitution  of  aniline  dyes  for  other  coloring  matters  in  the 
preparation  of  colored  inks,  especially  red,  necessitates  the  adoption 
of  means  for  their  recognition. 

A  characteristic  feature  of  the  aniline  colors  is  a  surface  irides- 
cence, distinguishable  even  in  the  thinnest  layers. 


1  From  a  report  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  American  Philosophical 
Society  to  investigate  the  various  methods  for  the  examination  of  documents. 
Read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  April  10, 1896. 


APPENDIX.  231 

The  beetle  bronze  is  unmistakable.  The  iridescence  is  freiiuently 
complementary  to  that  of  the  color — thus  green  to  red. 

Many  of  these  inks  also  show  fluorescence.  This  is  especially 
developed  in  very  dilute  solutions.  Highly  attenuated  solutions  of 
fluorescein  behave  differently  to  light  from  concentrated  ones.  The 
dichroism  of  concentrated  solutions  is  quite  distinct  from  the  fluor- 
escence obtained  by  dilution. 

Concentration  appears  to  destroy  fluorescence.  This  is  also  true 
of  glass.  Glass  containing  ten  per  cent,  of  uranium  oxide  would 
not  be  recognized  as  the  uranium  glass  whose  greenish  yellow  fluor- 
escence is  so  well  known. 

The  writer  was  led  to  investigate  many  of  these  properties  in 
connection  with  a  case  tried  in  New  Jersey  in  1891.^  The  contro- 
versy centred  on  the  question  as  to  whether  the  ink  was  eosine  or 
not.  In  rebuttal  it  was  claimed  that  the  ink  was  aurine.  My  atten- 
tion had  been  called  several  years  previously  to  the  black  appear- 
ance of  the  lips  of  players  using  rouge,  one  kind  of  which  I  knew 
to  be  eosine.  Eosine  is  irresponsive  to  yellow  rays  and  seems 
almost  black  in  the  glare  of  the  footlights.  Carmine  and  other  reds 
retain  more  of  their  red  color.  Experiments  were  therefore  made 
with  different  red  inks,  as  carmine,  aniline  red,  safranine,  and 
eosine,  and  their  appearance  noted  under  monochromatic  illumina- 
tion of  a  sodium  flame. 

The  results  were  not  as  pronounced  as  desired.  Recourse  was 
then  had  to  comparing  the  various  inks  in  strong  daylight  behind 
differently  colored  glasses.  The  effects  were  very  striking,  espe- 
cially with  the  aniline  inks,  since  they  possess  iridescence.  Colored 
glasses  also  greatly  aid  in  the  discovery  of  their  fluorescent  quali- 
ties. The  ink  on  the  document  presented"  a  lustre  when  illumi- 
nated through  green  glass  which  was  quite  different  from  that  of 

1  The  Prerogative  Court  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey  in  the  matter  of  the  Probate 
in  solemn  Form  and  the  Last  Will  and  Testament  of  George  P.  Gordon,  deceased. 


232  APPENDIX. 

carmine  and  various  aniline  inks.  The  fluorescence  of  eosine  may 
also  be  enhanced  by  the  use  of  blue  or  purple  glass.  These  experi- 
ments induced  the  writer  to  try  a  spectroscopic  examination  of  inks, 
both  in  solution  and  in  form  of  written  characters. 

A  Zeiss  micro-spectroscopic  eye-piece  and  low-power  lens  were 
used  at  first,  then  a  higher  power. 

This  test  is  especially  valuable,  since  the  document  is  uninjured. 
It  requires  the  brightest  sunlight  as  a  source  of  illumination.  The 
ink  is  viewed  by  transmitted  light  and  an  absortion  spectrum  is  ob- 
tained.    When  mapped  the  spectra  are  found  to  vary. 

This  means  of  identification  was,  however,  not  sufficiently  de- 
veloped to  enable  it  to  be  used  in  court,  nor  could  it  be  shown  be- 
cause of  the  absence  of  proper  facilities. 

At  court  the  preliminary  examination  of  the  experts  was 
strengthened  by  chemical  tests  applied  to  the  ink  on  the  document, 
prominently  by  the  action  of  hydrochloric  acid,  which  produced 
a  yellow  color,  and  by  the  greenish-yellow  fluorescent  nature  of  a 
solution  of  the  ink. 

The  opinion  of  the  experts  for  the  defence  that  the  ink  was  eosine 
was  corroborated  by  several  ink  manufacturers  and  a  well-known 
importer  of  aniline  dyes. 

It  was  necessary  to  break  the  evidence  going  to  prove  the  ink  to 
be  eosine,  since  that  color  was  not  discovered  until  1874,  eight  years 
after  the  date  of  the  will.  Aurine  was,  however,  in  commercial  use 
in  1865,  and  as  per  patent  of  Henry  Ellis,  Great  Britain,  No.  2267. 
It  was  not  shown,  however,  that  it  was  purchasable  as  ink  in  this 
country  in  1868. 

While  an  alkaline  aurine  solution  produces  an  ink  very  similar 
to  eosine  in  many  properties  and  reactions,  it  differs  widely  in  others, 
and  especially  in  not  having  greenish  yellow  fluorescence  of  eosine 
in  diluted  solution  and  in  not  showing  the  same  absorption  spec- 
trum and  derivative  spectra. 


APPENDIX. 


233 


A         B     C            D                   J 

p'bV 

J 

f                                      G 

>•»» 

'^r"' 

*n- 

■■"■"i"' 

i 

1 

11 

1 

|-       ,...-,J*l>|">U 

....I....I 

...1. 

,.i. ...(.... 

.,.,1 1... 

iij. 

.InnlMnt, 

nrinl IMM.....I...... 

„ 

EosiNE  IN  Water 


A  B     C 


-T 


• I 


D /»vb 

"I 


I'"''""'l 


F  _G 

"'■'■'I |. ...,,.,,,..,, 


I I, 


r,   ,Imm...mI....i....I. 


AuRiNE  IN  Dilute  Alkali. 


A         B    C  D^ 

,....„..,,<  ,  I  M'x'i' 


b  F  G 


■...I I-    I    I.    ■    '      I    -    .I--.I... I.    I.. .1.1 l.l..r....l         ■  I    ,■■■■■,, I 

Carmine  in  Ammonium  Hydrate. 


A         B    c 

I r"i 


■ '■"?§ '  Imliit!  'I 


I.I.....-.I....I....I.... I..     I,     .1.1 I.l..r.         I  I       '■■■■■ 


'■■■■■'[■■■■■■.l.| ■■!  II 


David's  Brilliant  Carmine  Ink. 

ABC  D  E  b 


'■i"""i-r 


■  ■■■' '   ' 


■■'""I- 


j_ 


■  ■H|iiiHmHiii 


..I...  ■■■■I... 


.I.M.t.M.I, 


[■■■•.....|.     .     .  1  > 


Safranine. 


ABC  D E  b  F ,^ 

■■i'"i j-ri |...  ■■.,,|M..|....|......n  I |M-     I   -...I.    ■     1^ 


Innl I, ..I 


I..I...I.I.... 1.1...  I  .  I    i..1....t...> 


234  APPENDIX. 

The  accompanying  maps  show  the  spectra  observed  with  thin 
layers  of  inks.  A  Donne  lactoscope  proved  very  useful  in  varying 
the  thickness  of  the  layer  until  the  most  characteristic  appearance 
was  obtained.  The  same  absorption  bands  were  afterwards  recog- 
nized when  pen  marks  made  with  these  inks  were  examined  under 
a  microscope  to  which  a  Zeiss  spectroscopic  eye-piece  was  adjusted. 

The  spectroscopic  examination  of  the  ink  while  on  the  document 
should  be  followed,  whenever  allowed,  by  observations  of  the  spectra 
produced  when  the  ink  is  subjected  to  the  action  of  chemicals. 

Very  marked  changes  occur ;  and  since  even  colorless  solutions 
may  show  absorption  bands,  this  means  of  identification  possesses 
the  double  advantage  of  an  accurate  physical  test  without  injury  to 
the  document  together  with  a  combined  chemical  and  physical  test 
where  the  application  of  reagents  is  permitted. 


NOTE  ON  PHOTOGRAPHIC  TESTING  OF  INKS.^ 

BY    S.     V.     SHARPLES,     S.B. 

On  examining  the  writing  of  a  certain  will  with  the  microscope, 
I  became  convinced  that  the  alterations  were,  in  part  at  least,  made 
with  a  different  ink.  If  writing  is  done  with  a  thin  ink  such  as  is 
used  in  fountain  pens,  and  which  is  generally  made  from  some  ani- 
line preparation,  such  as  induline  or  nigrosine,  it  will  be  found  that 
the  ink  acts  in  a  very  peculiar  manner.  The  coloring  matter  collects 
on  the  edges  of  the  stroke,  and  these  are  much  more  intense  in 

1  From  a  report  of  the  committee  appointed  by  the  American  Philosophical 
Society  to  investigate  the  various  methods  for  the  examination  of  documents. 
Read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  December  20, 1895. 


APPENDIX.  235 

color  than  the  centre  of  the  mark.  The  stroke  may  be  defined  as  a 
road  with  a  hedge  on  either  side  of  it.  This  peculiarity  is  found 
in  many  other  inks  when  they  are  first  applied  to  the  paper.  But 
as  the  ink  ages,  in  the  case  of  the  so-called  chemical  inks,  the 
centre  of  the  stroke  becomes  dark  and  the  contrast  disappears.  In 
the  case  of  the  inks  which  undergo  no  chemical  change  the  con- 
trast is  permanent.  The  examination  under  a  microscope  serves 
to  demonstrate  these  points  to  an  expert  and  fully  satisfy  him.  It 
struck  me  that  by  the  aid  of  a  photograph  I  could  bring  out  these 
differences.  I  first  tried  enlarging  the  photograph.  The  printer 
produced  a  good  picture,  but  in  his  desire  to  make  a  good  print  he 
spoiled  it  for  my  purposes.  I  got  him  to  make  another  trial, 
telling  him  I  did  not  want  a  good  picture,  but  one  that  was  very 
much  under-exposed.  This  brought  out  the  differences  in  the  ink- 
well. The  portion  written  with  the  aniline  ink  had  almost  dis- 
appeared, except  the  edges  of  the  stroke.  That  written  with  the 
chemical  ink  was  almost  as  distinct  as  in  the  first  print.  I  also 
made  a  number  of  contact  prints,  exposing  the  paper  under  the 
negative  a  very  short  time,  and  in  this  manner  getting  prints  in 
which  the  contrast  between  the  two  inks  was  very  marked.  Lantern 
slides  were  also  prepared  from  the  negatives.  These  also  showed 
the  differences  in  the  inks  very  plainly.  In  practice  I  would  sug- 
gest that  two  negatives  be  made  of  the  writing,  a  strong  and  a  weak 
one  ;  that  prints  be  made  from  each  of  these  in  the  way  above 
spoken  of,  that  is,  gradually  increasing  in  strength,  and  that  several 
lantern  slides  be  made  from  the  negatives  in  the  same  manner  as 
the  prints.  These  slides  when  projected  on  the  screen  will  serve 
to  bring  out  the  differences  in  the  inks  of  which  I  have  spoken. 


236  APPENDIX. 

E. 

^  The  Chemiker  Zeitung  gives  the  following  modes  of  preparing 
fireproof  inks  and  incombustible  writing  and  printing  paper,  which 
appear  worth  attention  : 

A  fireproof  ink  for  use  in  writing  on  incombustible  paper  is 
made  of  85.31  grams  of  graphite,  0.78  gram  copal  or  resinous  gum, 
7.75  grams  nutgalls,  31  grams  indigo  sulphate.    This  ink  is  black. 
For  colored  inks  the  graphite  is  replaced  by  earthy  pigments. 
*         *         * 

^  The  best  asbestos  is  treated  with  a  preparation  of  potassium  per- 
manganate and  then  with  sulphuric  acid  ;  ninety-five  per  cent,  of 
this  asbestos  is  mixed  with  five  per  cent,  of  wood-pulp  in  water 
containing  borax  and  glue.  Another  fireproof  writing-ink  is  made 
by  mixing  Indian  ink  and  gum  with  chloride  of  platinum  and  oil 
of  lavender  ;  for  printing-ink  lampblack  and  varnish  are  to  be  sub- 
stituted. 

■»         -x-         * 

^  Paper  made  of  pure  asbestos  resists  a  high  temperature  with- 
out material  alteration.  An  ammoniacal  solution  of  nitrate  of 
silver,  colored  with  a  little  Indian  ink,  will  preserve  a  legible  copy 
when  written  with  on  the  asbestos  paper  mentioned  above  and  sub- 
jected to  strong  heat. 

A  free-flowing  ink  for  writing  on  fireproof  paper  with  an  ordi- 
nary metallic  pen  may  be  obtained  by  using  five  parts  dry  chlo- 
ride of  platinum  with  fifteen  of  oil  of  lavender,  fifteen  of  Chinese 
ink,  and  one  of  gum-arabic,  adding  thereto  sixty-four  of  water. 
When  the  paper  is  ignited  after  being  written  upon  with  this  ink, 
the  platinum  ingredient  causes  the  writing  to  appear  transparent, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  it  is  claimed  that  such  writing  as  has  be- 
come black  or  illegible  will  become  readily  legible  again  during  the 
process  of  heating  the  paper.  Colors  for  painting  may  also  be 
made  fireproof  by  mixing  commercial  metallic  colors  with  the 
chloride  of  platinum  and  painters'  varnish,  adding  an  ordinary 

1  Workshop  Keceipts  for  Manufacturers,  Merchants,  and  Scientific  Amateurs. 
(Second  Series.)  By  Robert  Haldane.  E.  and  F.  N.  Spon,  16  Charing  Cross, 
London  ;  35  Murray  Street,  New  York,  1883. 


APPENDIX.  237 

aquarelle  pigment  to  strengthen  the  "covering  power"  of  the 
color.  These  fireproof  paints  or  colors  can  be  easily  used  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  common  water-colors,  and  it  is  claimed  they 
will  resist  the  destructive  influence  of  great  heat  quite  as  success- 
fully as  the  fireproof  printing-  and  writing-inks  just  referred  to. 


Safety -Paper. — Paper  which  has  been  passed  through  a  solu- 
tion of  glue  with  five  per  cent,  potassium  cyanate  and  antimony 
sulphide,  is  immersed  in  a  dilute  solution  of  magnesium  or  copper 
sulphate,  and  afterwards  dried.  Nothing  written  on  this  paper 
with  ink  prepared  from  galls  and  iron  salts  can  be  destroyed  by 
acids,  etc.,  nor  by  mechanical  erasing.  Acids  would  color  the 
black  writing  blue  or  red,  while  alkalies  would  color  the  paper 
brown  ;  erasing  would  remove  the  surface  of  the  paper  and  show 
the  white  ground. 


F. 

EXPERT   TESTIMONY. 

Expert  Witnesses. — If  a  single  competent  expert  could  be  selected 
by  the  court  to  take  up  questions  and  lay  his  results  before  it, 
the  present  system  would  be  less  objectionable  than  it  is.  Never- 
theless, this  solution  is  probably  not  the  best,  because  no  man  is 
capable  of  always  observing  and  judging  correctly,  and  the  most 
careful  man  may  be  led  astray  by  elements  in  the  problem  before 
him  of  which  he  does  not  suspect  the  existence.  It  would  seem, 
therefore,  to  be  fairer  and  less  open  to  objection  if  a  plan  of  investi- 
gation were  followed  which  can  be  clearly  explained  to  those  who 
are  to  decide  a  case  and  the  resulting  data  left  in  their  hands  to 
assist  them  in  their  decision. 

In  such  a  manner  of  presentation,  if  any  important  d;ita  have 
been  omitted,  or  if  the  jiremises  do  not  warrant  the  conclusion,  the 
errors  can  be  detected  without  accnsing  the  expert  of  lack  of  good 


238  APPENDIX. 

faith,  or  ignorance  of  his  subject.  The  fact  that  he  has  testified  in 
hundreds  of  cases  and  in  every  court  in  the  Avorld  should  not  be 
allowed  to  influence  the  jury  against  a  logical  conclusion  drawn 
from  uncontroverted  facts. 

A  committee  composed  of  judges  of  the  courts  in  the  Common- 
wealth of  Pennsylvania  was  appointed  to  examine  into  the  law 
governing  the  testimony  of  experts.  The  chairman,  Judge  Endlich, 
of  Reading,  invited  the  author  to  cooperate  as  a  layman  in  settling 
certain  preliminary  questions  necessary  for  the  preparation  of  a 
sketch  of  a  proposed  law,  and,  first  of  all,  in  finding  definitions 
for  "expert"  and  "  expert  testimony." 

In  answer  to  this  request,  the  following  was  submitted  to  his 
Honor,  February,  1897  : 

Expert  testimony  may  be  defined  as  that  which  either  rests  upon 
the  application  through  reasoning  of  principles  susceptible  of  expla- 
nation and  approved  by  persons  of  average  intelligence,  or  is  based 
upon  the  personal  experience  of  one  who  is  more  than  ordinarily 
qualified  to  discriminate  between  similar  impressions.  Testimony 
which  does  not  fall  under  one  of  these  two  heads  should  not  be 
admitted  as  expert  testimony.  It  is  also  to  be  noted  that  the 
weight  of  expert  testimony  is  proportional  to  the  clearness  with 
which  the  mental  processes  leading  to  a  given  conclusion  can  be 
followed  by  the  hearer.  Where  this  cannot  be  done,  the  whole 
force  of  the  testimony  depends  upon  the  belief  in  the  witness's 
competency  and  honesty. 

An  expert  is  one  skilled  in  a  subject  by  observation  or  investiga- 
tion. 

It  will  be  observed  that  both  experts  and  their  testimony  fall 
into  subjective  and  objective  classes. 

Thus  the  testimony  of  a  distinguished  painter  or  poet  as  to  the 
merit  or  authorship  of  a  work  of  art  or  literature  is  based  upon 
subjective  impressions  which  may  be  too  subtle  to  admit  of  expres- 
sion, though  distinctly  felt.  On  the  other  hand,  the  testimony  of  a 
chemist  that  the  decomposition  of  a  certain  chemical  compound  will 
require   the  expenditure  of  more  energy  than  the  value  of  the 


APPENDIX.  239 

product  represents,  reckoned  in  heat  units  obtained  in  the  most 
economical  way,  is  a  conclusion  based  upon  a  train  of  reasoning 
of  which  every  step  is  within  the  comprehension  of  a  school-boy, 
thou^'h  the  demonstration  as  a  whole  may  seem  complex,  and,  in 
fact,  has  required  centuries  of  experiment  and  reflection  to  evolve. 
Because  of  this  character  of  modern  applied  science  it  seems  very 
desirable  to  retain  the  present  system  of  permitting  each  side  in  a 
court  trial  to  employ  as  many  experts  as  it  pleases,  but  to  retain  an 
impartial  expounder  of  the  technical  testimony  as  a  friend  of  the 
court.  The  person  filling  this  position  will  thus  not  be  open  to  the 
objection  of  posing  as  an  oracle,  whose  decision  must  be  final, 
whether  or  not  it  has  been  conscientiously  prepared,  but  he  will 
occupy  more  nearly  the  position  of  a  judge  before  whom  the  bibli- 
ography bearing  upon  the  case  has  been  cited,  the  dates  and  refer- 
ences given,  and  who,  with  these  aids,  supplemented  by  his  own 
knowledge,  is  more  likely  than  without  them  to  reach  correct  con- 
clusions. 

It  is  difficult  to  comprehend  the  distinction  which  exists  between 
the  subjective  expert  in  questions  of  handwriting  and  the  person  not 
an  expert  who  has  "seen  the  man  write  his  signature,"  or  who 
"is  familiar  with  the  writer's  signatures,"  for  in  both  cases  appeal 
is  made  to  the  undefinable  exemplar  which  the  signature  has  created 
in  the  mind.  In  the  most  usual  case  the  non-expert  is  richer  in 
experience  and  the  subjective  expert  in  skill.  The  former  seldom 
considers  individual  parts  of  a  signature,  but  depends  upon  his  im- 
pression of  it  as  a  whole.  The  latter  generally  dissects  the  signa- 
ture and  speaks  of  the  peculiarities  of  its  parts,  frequently  giving 
reasons,  such  as  the  supposed  manner  of  holding  and  using  the  pen, 
etc.  ;  but  fundamentally  both  proceed  from  the  whole  or  dissected 
exemplar  in  the  mind.  As  to  their  close  connection  all  illusion 
as  well  as  all  distinction  lietween  their  methods  vanishes  when  an 
expert  professes  to  be  able  to  distinguish  between  genuine  and  false 
signatures  at  a  glance. 

To  which  the  judge  replied  in  part : 

.  .  ,  The  idea  that,  it  seems  to  me,  ought  to  be  conveyed  by 
a  definition  of  expert  testimony  would  be  that  "it  rests  either 
upon  the  application  through  reasoning  of  principles  which  are 


240  APPENDIX. 

generally  recognized  as  controlling  in  any  given  science,  art,  or 
trade,  by  those  who  are  practically  or  theoretically,  or  both  prac- 
tically and  theoretically,  conversant  with  the  same  ;  and  which, 
while  presumptively  beyond  the  common  knowledge  of  men,  are 
yet  susceptible  of  explanation  to  and  approved  by  persons  of 
average  intelligence — or  is  based  upon  personal  experience,  etc." 
...  In  174  Pennsylvania  State  Reports,  p.  298,  Judge  Williams 
says:  "...  An  expert  witness  is  one  who,  because  of  the  pos- 
session of  knowledge  not  within  ordinary  reach,  is  specially  quali- 
fied to  speak  upon  the  subject  to  which  his  attention  is  called." 
Possibly,  a  combination  of  the  essential  thoughts  expressed  in  your 
definition  and  that  of  Judge  Williams  might  result  in  something 
more  nearly  perfect  than  we  have  yet  had.  ...  I  believe,  with 
you,  in  retaining  so  much  of  the  present  system  as  puts  the  selec- 
tion of  expert  witnesses  (at  least  in  the  first  instance)  into  the 
hands  of  the  parties.  I  don't  think,  however,  that  they  ought  to 
be  at  liberty  to  call  as  many  as  they  please — but  only  a  reasona- 
ble number.  .  .  .  Your  division  of  experts  and  their  testimony 
into  subjective  and  objective,  and  your  notice  of  the  blending  of 
the  two,  are  very  good,  indeed.   .   .   . 

In  consequence  of  this  first  failure  a  second  effort  was  made  as 
subjoined,  and  this  was  submitted  to  two  leaders  of  the  Penn- 
sylvania Bar,  of  whose  comments  brief  condensations  here  follow. 
The  words  in  brackets  were  stricken  out  by  Judge  Endlich. 

I.  Expert. — An  expert  is  one  who  by  greater  power  of  discern- 
ment than  ordinary  men  [either  as  a  gift  of  nature,  or] ,  by  reason 
of  a  greater  number  of  previous  experiences,  is  better  able  than 
they  to  elucidate  a  given  question  by  observation  or  investigation. 

II.  Expert  Testimony. — Expert  testimony  is  that  given  by  such  a 
person,  and  is  based  upon  his  individual  impressions  as  to  the  facts. 
But  in  so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  him  to  expose  to  persons  of  average 
intelligence  the  successive  mental  processes  by  means  of  which  he 
attains  his  conclusions  it  is  [shall  6e]  his  duty  to  do  this :  and  such 
demonstration,  hoivever  easily  intelligible  when  thus  explained,  if  re- 
quiring more  than  ordinary  knowledge  or  skill  to  make  it,  does  not 
lose  [shall  not  be  held  to  have  losf]  its  character  as  expert  testimony. 


APPENDIX.  241 

27  February,  1897. 
.  .  .  Scientifically,   I  think  very  highly  of  your  definition.     I 
doubt,  however,  whether  it  would  be  accepted  by  the  courts  as  a 
definition  of  what,  in  law,  is  regarded  as  an  "expert." 

In  legal  thought  I  do  not  think  the  idea  of  ' '  greater  power  of 
discernment"  enters.  The  man  may  start  with  the  most  ordinary 
powers  of  discernment ;  but  if  he  can  testify  to  a  sufficient  number 
of  previous  experiences  he  will  be  admitted.  The  ' '  greater  power 
of  discernment"  constitutes  the  great  "expert ;"  but  is  not  neces- 
sary in  law  to  an  "expert."   .   .   . 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

John  G.  Johnson. 

Mr.  Samuel  Dickson  substitutes  the  following  : 

March  1,  1897. 

Expert. — One  having  such  special  knowledge  as  to  make  his 
opinion  a  reasonable  ground  of  belief. 

Expert  Testimony. — The  opinion  of  an  expert  upon  facts  proven 
or  stated  hypothetically.  In  so  far  as  it  is  possible  for  him  to 
(re)state  the  mental  processes  or  experimental  methods  by  which 
he  has  reached  his  conclusion,  it  shall  be  his  duty  to  do  so. 

The    second  attempt   at  definitions  having   been   forwarded  to 

Judge  Endhch,  together  with  the  comments  of  Mr.  Johnson  and 

Mr.  Dickson,  he  replied  as  follows  : 

March  4,  1897. 

...  I  still  prefer  your  definition  of  "expert"  as  it  stands  on 
the  slip  enclosed  by  you.  The  "greater  power  of  discernment" 
Mr.  Johnson  objects  to  is,  I  think,  right  in  association  with  the 
succeeding  phrase,  "by  reason  of  a  greater  number  of  experi- 
ences. ' '  His  criticism  is  virtually  the  same  as  that  which  I  made 
upon  the  words  "  as  a  gift  of  nature."  As  he  says,  it  is  the  pre- 
vious experience  that  qualifies  a  man  as  an  expert.  Even  tea- 
tasters,  artists,' and  the  like,  are  accepted  as  experts,  not  because 
they  have  naturally  acute  perceptions  or  genius  in  their  lines,  but 
because  they  are  tea-tasters,  artists,  etc. — because  that  is  their  busi- 
ness or  profession,  or  because  they  have  made  studies  or  experiments 
in  those  matters, — all  of  which  implies  experience.     But,  after  all, 

16 


242  APPENDIX. 

the  ultimate  reason  why  the  latter  is  admitted  as  a  basis  of  qualifica- 
tion to  give  opinion  evidence  is  this, — that  such  experience  may  be 
presumed  to  have  imparted  a  greater  power  of  discernment  in  a 
particular  branch  of  knowledge,  etc.,  than  ordinary  men  can  possess. 
It  is  the  ignoring  of  this  latter  element,  which  is  a  condition  pre- 
cedent to  the  admissibility  of  expert  testimony  (viz. ,  the  subject  must 
be  one  beyond  the  presumptive  capacity  of  the  ordinary  man),  that 
would  seem  to  constitute  a  well-founded  objection  to  Mr.  Dickson's 
definition.  If  after  the  word  "  knowledge"  were  inserted  some- 
thing like  this:  "  on  a  subject  beyond  the  presumptive  grasp  of 
ordinary  man,"  his  definition  of  "expert  testimony"  is  one  which 
suggests  no  need  of  improvement  to  my  mind.  ...  I  would  then 
define  testimony  and  expert  testimony  somewhat  as  follows  : 

I.  Testimony  consists  of  the  stating  of  facts  or  the  production  of 
objects,  under  certain  guarantees  of  truth  and  genuineness,  from 
the  hearing  of  which  statements  or  from  the  examination  of  which 
objects  an  inference  may  be  drawn  as  to  the  existence  or  non- 
existence of  &  fact  in  issue  or  of  a  fact  relevant  to  the  issue.  The 
person  who  states  the  facts  or  identifies  the  object  is  called  the 
witness. 

II.  When  the  process  of  inference  requires  no  other  equipment 
than  the  education  and  experience  necessary  for  the  conduct  of  the 
ordinary  affairs  of  life,  the  inference  must  be  dravm  by  the  jury. 

III.  When  from  facts  stated  or  objects  produced,  a  relevant  in- 
ference may  be  drawn,  but  where  the  drawing  of  it  involves  such 
knowledge  in  a  given  sphere  as  results  only  from  special  study  or 
unusual  experience,  the  inference  in  such  case  must  be  drawn,  not 
by  the  jury,  but  by  one  who  has  pursued  the  study  or  who  has 
had  the  experience.  The  explanation  of  the  process  of  inferring 
and  the  statement  of  the  conclusion  is  called  expert  testimony,  and 
the  witness  is  called  an  expert  witness. 

IV.  Expert  testimony  accordingly  results  in  furnishing  the  jury 
with  a  new  fact  to  serve  as  a  new  premise  from  which  the  jury 
may  draw  its  conclusions,  as  in  other  cases.  It  follows  that  ex- 
pert testimony  may  involve  either  (1)  the  drawing  of  inferences 
from  facts  which  would  be  admissible  in  evidence  even  in  the  ab- 
sence of  expert  testimony,  because  from  such  facts  the  jury  might 
draw   a   partial   inference,    or  (2)  the  drawing  of  an  inference 


APPENDIX.  243 

from  fads  which  would  have  no  significance  for  the  jury  at  all  in 

the    absence  of  expert  testimony,   and  are  therefore  admissible 

only  for  the   purpose   of  laying  ground  for  the  testinaony  of  an 

expert.   .   .   . 

*         *         * 

If  such  a  problem  were  presented  to  the  consideration  of  a  body 
of  scientific  men  the  first  thought  would  be  to  require  from  the 
witness  a  minute  and  circumstantial  statement  of  the  various 
facts  (or  postulates)  on  which  the  investigation  was  based  ;  how 
and  where  they  were  obtained  ;  and  the  successive  steps  of  reason- 
ing by  which  the  conclusions  were  reached.  The  most  unblushing 
perjurer  could  not  stand  this  test, — for  either  his  testimony  would 
have  real  value,  or  the  errors  in  his  facts,  reasoning,  or  method 
would  become  apparent. 

But,  after  carefully  considering  the  language  in  which  these 
limitations  of  an  expert  were  expressed,  the  author  saw  with  dis- 
may that  under  the  existing  law  this  definition  would  exclude 
from  the  category  of  experts  any  one  to  whom  it  applied,  for  the 
reason  that  the  jury  is  supposed  to  be  able  to  take  all  necessary 
ratiocinative  steps  as  well  as  those  skilled  in  special  subjects. 

The  difficulty  to  the  lay  mind  in  comprehending  this  fiction  of 
the  law  is  that  obviously,  even  to  the  most  superficial  observer, 
the  greatest  geniuses  attain  their  highest  fame,  not  so  much  by 
giving  to  the  world  what  was  beyond  the  reach  of  others,  as  by 
following  the  obscure  path  of  consequences  from  a  region  well 
known  to  an  eminence  hitherto  unsealed. 

In  fact,  a  large  majority  of  the  most  important  additions  to 
human  knowledge  has  consisted  in  demonstrations  of  the  con- 
sequences Af  hich  must  follow  from  the  existence  of  several  isolated, 
but  well-known  facts.  The  putting  together  of  these  facts  in  a 
manner  to  show  their  mutual  relationship  and  the  support  they 
give  to  a  liitherto  unsuspected  conclusion  is  as  exclusively  con- 
fined to   original   and   master   minds,  and   is   ^s   esseittial  to  the 


244  APPENDIX. 

welfare  of  mankind,  as  any  of  the  results  of  original  research 
or  new  discoveries  in  Nature. 

Can  th«re  be  no  expert  in  mathematics  or  in  mechanical 
astronomy?  Would  Kepler,  Newton  and  LaPlace  have  failed  to 
secure  this  title  ?  Yet  they  only  put  well-known  facts  into  new 
relations  to  each  other,  thereby  erecting  new  structures  of  old 
material ;  from  which,  however,  immensely  enlarged  views  of 
Nature  were  obtained.  Would  it  be  improper  to  call  Blackstone 
and  Coke  and  Kent  experts  in  the  profession  they  adorned  ?  Yet, 
presumably,  any  jury  of  twelve  men  could  have  looked  up  the 
authorities  and  written  the  commentaries  which,  after  all,  are  only 
the  perfection  of  human  reason — and  therefore  the  every-day  tools 
of  the  juryman. 

It  would  seem  from  this  that,  in  the  present  state  of  the  law, 
not  only  is  preference  given  to  ex-cathedra  utterances,  without 
further  support  than  the  "experience"  of  the  witness,  but  actually 
the  term  "expert"  is  confined  to  one  who  has  practised  the  profes- 
sion, or  engaged  in  the  pursuit  in  which  the  facts  testified  to  are 
observed  ;  or  has  been  accepted  previously  by  other  courts  as  an 
"expert"  on  kindred  subjects,  no  matter  what  his  capacity  may 
be.  This  method  of  selecting  experts  is  good  only  so  long  as  the 
honorable  character  of  the  witness  is  beyond  question.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  throws  open  the  door  to  any  dishonest  person  who 
may  wish  to  earn  a  living  by  "  experting ;"  and  it  is  this  ancient 
relic  of  a  period  antedating  the  precise  methods  of  modern  science 
which  is  responsible  for  the  abuses  of  expert  testimony  complained 
of  by  many  learned  jurists  to-day.  As  long  as  this  antiquated 
view  of  experts  endures,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  thp  canker  can 
be  eradicated. 

Two  courses  are  open  :  the  one  which  naturally  suggests  itself 
to  the  non-legal  mind,  unhampered  by  too  much  experience,  is  to 
abandon  the  old-fashioned  notion  of  an  expert  as  an  impediment 


APPENDIX.  245 

in  the  way  and  a  useless  anachronism.  To  such  a  mind  it  seems 
that  there  would  be  no  greater  shock  to  the  fabric  of  the  law  by 
this  procedure  than  occurred  when  modern  civilization  demanded 
the  removal  of  the  unnatural  restrictions  on  the  liberty  of  women. 


Handwriting  Evidence  in  Pennsylvania. — The  law  in  Pennsyl- 
vania applicable  to  expert  testimony  on  handwriting,  before  the 
passage  of  the  act  of  May  15,  1895,  was  very  ably  and  fully 
summed  up  by  the  late  Chief  Justice  WoodAvard,  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Pennsylvania,  May  22.  1862,  in  an  opinion  in  the  case 
of  Travis  vs.  Brown,  reported  in  43  Pennsylvania  State  Reports, 
page  9,  as  follows  : 

1.  That  evidence  touching  the  genuineness  of  a  paper  in  suit 
may  be  corroborated  by  a  comparison,  to  be  made  by  the  jury, 
between  that  paper  and  other  well-authenticated  writings  of  the 
same  party. 

2.  But  mere  experts  are  not  admissible  to  make  the  comparison 
and  to  testifv'  to  their  conclusions  from  it. 

3.  That  witnesses  having  knowledge  of  the  party's  handwriting 
are  competent  to  testify  as  to  the  paper  in  suit ;  but  they,  no  more 
than  experts,  are  to  make  comparison  of  hands,  for  that  were  to 
withdraw  fi'om  the  jury  a  duty  which  belongs  appropriately  to 
them. 

4.  That  test  documents  to  be  compared  should  be  established  by 
the  most  satisfactory  evidence  before  being  admitted  to  the  jury. 

5.  That  experts  may  be  examined  to  prove  forged  or  simulated 
writings,  and  to  give  the  conclusions  of  skill  in  such  cases  as 
have  been  mentioned,  and  their  like. 

Our  cases  are  all  reconcilable  Avith  these  conclusions,  though 
the  language  of  judges  has  not  always  been  as  guarded  as  would 
have  been  well.     No  doubt  inconsistent  authorities  may  be  found 


246  APPENDIX. 

outside  our  borders,  but  it  is  not  worth  our  while  to  discuss  them, 
for  if  we  have  got  a  settled  rule  of  our  own  it  is  enough  for  us  to 

adhere  to  it,  etc. 

■X-         -x-         * 

This  decision  prevented  the  expert  from  placing  the  genuine  and 
disputed  signatures  in  juxtaposition,  and  drawing  the  attention 
of  the  jury  to  their  resemblances  or  differences,  although  the 
learned  judge  very  truly  said  in  the  first  sentence  of  his  opinion 
that  a  comparison  of  one  kind  or  another,  whether  it  be  with  an 
actually  visible  pattern  or  with  an  ideal  stamped  upon  the  memory, 
is  necessary  to  the  formation  of  any  judgment.  It  will  be  noted 
also  that  under  clause  5  experts  are  permitted  to  give  testimony 
as  to  forged  or  simulated  writings,  although  under  clause  2  they 
are  deprived  of  the  only  possible  .means  of  reaching  conclusions 
based  upon  characteristics  of  handwriting. 

The  incongruities  of  this  law  were  only  exceeded  by  the  different 
interpretations  it  received  from  different  judges.  The  following 
statement  will  illustrate  this.  On  three  successive  months  of  the 
year  1894  the  author  was  called  as  an  expert  in  three  different 
counties  of  Pennsylvania  and  in  three  separate  cases.  In  each 
case  he  had  prepared  both  composite  photographs  and  numerical 
averages  as  the  bases  of  his  opinion.  The  judge  of  the  first  court 
in  which  he  appeared  admitted  the  composite  photographs,  but 
excluded  the  numerical  averages.  The  judge  of  the  second  court 
admitted  the  latter,  but  excluded  the  former.  The  judge  of  the  last 
court  inquired  whether  the  witness  had  ever  seen  any  writing  pur- 
porting to  be  by  the  hand  of  the  person  whose  authorship  of  the 
document  in  litigation  was  disputed,  and  on  being  answered  that 
the  witness's  opinion  was  founded  exclusively  on  such  writing, 
declared  that  under  the  decision  of  Judge  Woodward,  in  Travis  vs. 
Brown,  the  witness  had,  by  the  very  fact  of  examining  Avriting 
alleged  to  be  genuine,  rendered  himself  incompetent  as  an  expert 
witness. 


APPENDIX.  247 

The  inconsistency  of  these  three  decisions,  and  the  startling 
consequences  which  were  announced  in  the  last,  determined  the 
author  to  make  an  effort  to  have  the  law  changed.  He  accordingly 
prepared  a  sketch  which,  after  being  put  into  proper  legal  phrase- 
ology by  Mr.  Edward  P.  Allinson,  of  the  Philadelphia  Bar,  and 
submitted  to  Judges  McPherson  and  Rice  for  criticism,  was  ap- 
proved by  them,  passed  by  the  Legislature,  and  signed  by  the 
Governor,  without  change.  The  text  of  this,  the  present  law,  here 
follows  : 

AN  ACT 

Relating  to  the  competency  of  experts  and  to  the  rules  of  evidence  in 
questions  of  simulated  (or  altered)  handwriting,  declaring  and 
defining  some  of  the  existing  rules  of  laio  upon  these  subjects,  and 
also  extending  some  of  the  provisions  of  the  same. 

Section  1.  Be  it  enacted,  &c..  That  where  there  is  a  question  as 
to  any  simulated  or  altered  document  of  writing,  the  opinions  of 
the  following  persons  shall  be  deemed  to  be  relevant  : 

(a)  The  opinion  of  any  person  acquainted  with  the  handwriting 
of  the  supposed  writer. 

(b)  The  opinion  of  those  who  have  had  special  experience  with 
or  who  have  pursued  special  studies  relating  to  documents,  hand- 
writing and  alterations  thereof  who  are  herein  called  experts. 

Section  2.  It  shall  be  competent  for  experts  in  giving  their  testi- 
mony, under  the  provisions  of  this  Act,  to  make  comparison  of 
documents  and  comparison  of  disputed  handwriting  with  any 
documents  or  writing  admitted  to  be  genuine,  or  proven  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  judge  to  be  genuine,  and  the  evidence  of  such 
experts  respecting  the  same  shall  be  submitted  to  the  jury  as  evi- 
dence of  the  genuineness  or  otherwise  of  the  writing  in  dispute. 

Section  3.  It  shall  be  competent  for  experts,  in  formulating  their 
opinions  to  the  court  and  jury,  to  place  the  genuine  and  disputed 
signatures  or  writings  in  juxtaposition,  and  to  draw  the  attention 
of  the  jury  thereto  ;  and  it  shall',  furthermore,  be  competent  for 
counsel  to  require  of  an  expert  a  statement  of  the  principles  on 
which  he  has  based  his  work,  the  details  of  his  work,  and  his 
opinion  that  the  results  are  important  to  the  point  at  issue,  or  the 


248  APPENDIX. 

reasoning,  analysis,  and  investigation  Ijy  wliich  he  has  arrived  at 
his  opinion. 

Section  4.  The  opinions  of  the  witnesses  to  handwriting  being 
submitted  as  competent  testimony  to  the  jury,  the  final  determi- 
nation as  to  whether  any  particular  handwriting  is  genuine  or 
simulated  shall  remain,  as  heretofore,  a  question  for  the  jury  on 
all  the  evidence  submitted. 

Section  5.  All  provisions  of  this  act  shall  apply  to  all  courts  of 
judicature,  criminal  and  civil,  and  to  all  persons  having,  by  law  or 
consent  of  parties,  authority  to  hear,  receive,  and  examine  evidence. 

Approved  the  15th  djiy  of  May,  a.d.,  1895. 

DANIEL  H.   HASTINGS, 

Governor  of  Pennsylvania. 


H. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  American  Philosophical  Society  held  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1895,  Dr.  Persifor  Frazer  and  Mr.  S.  P.  Sharpies  were 
appointed  a  committee  to  report  to  the  Society  on  the  general 
subject  of  methods  useful  in  the  investigation  qf  documents,  with 
power  to  associate  with  themselves  other  specialists  not  members 
of  the  Society.  The  above  added,  as  associates,  Marsha'll  D.  Ewell, 
M.D.,  LL.D.  (who  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Society  May  17, 
1895),  Dr.  Charles  A.  Doremus,  and  Mr.  William  Hoskins.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  committee  Dr.  Frazer  was  elected  chairman.  The 
following  papers  have  been  read  before  the  Society  as  reports 
from  this  committee  : 

"Note  on  photographic  testing  of  inks,"  by  S.  P.  Sharpies, 
and,  "Evidence  of  the  action  of  two  hands  in  joint  signature 
marks,"  by  Persifor  Frazer  ;  on  December  20,  1895.  "The  iden- 
tification of  colored  inks  by  their  absorption  spectra,"  by  Charles 
A.  Doremus,  April  10,  1896. 

All  of  the  above  papers  have  been  included  in  whole  or  in  part 
in  this  book. 


APPENDIX. 


249 


I. 

Mr.  Wingate'a  explanation  of  the  method  of  photographing 
crosses  placed  ohliquely  to  the  axis  of  the  camera  here  follows  : 

...  In  order  to  get  pictures  of  the  slides  in  an  inclined  posi- 
tion, after  much  experimentation  I  was  forced  to  construct  a 
photomicrographic  camera  for  the  purpose,  with  the  stage  of  the 
microscope  part  inclinable  throughout  ninety  degrees  distally. 
(See  Fig.)     As  a  good  microscope  lens  has  almost  no  depth  of 


focus,  it  was  impossible  to  get  immediately  an  enlarged  picture 
of  the  cross,  as  only  one  plane  would  be  in  focus  at  one  time. 
Mr.  Zentmayer  kindly  lent  me  a  lens  made  on  the  principle  of  the 
portrait-lens  of  two  inch  equivalent  focus,  and  I  stopped  it  down 
to  f.  20.  With  this  I  was  able  to  get  a  fair  field  and  a  magnifi- 
cation of  a  little  more  than  one-half  diameter.  From  negatives 
made  in  this  way  lantern-slides  were  made  by  contact,  and  from 
these  the  larger  negatives, — thus  bringing  the  enlargement  up  to 
more  than  four  diameters. 

The  direct  negatives  were  made  by  daylight,  facing  a  small 
window,  with  the  stage  at  an  angle  of  8°  to  11°  upward  inclina- 
tion from  the  optical  axis  of  the  lens,  and  the  whole  apparatus 
inclined  in  such  a  way  that  the  stage  holding  the  slide  was  nearly 
horizontal,  or  inclined  a  little  downward.   .   .   . 

Harold  Wingate. 
Philadelphia,  April  19, 1891. 


250  APPENDIX. 

J. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY    OF   THE   SUBJECT. 

The  Handwriting  of  Junius  Professionally  Investigated.  By  Mr. 
Charles  Chabot  (expert),  with  a  preface  and  collateral  evidence,  by 

the   Hon.     Edward    Twisleton.       NoOs   opij   xai  voi^  axovey  raWa  x>o<f>a.  x«' 

Tv^\a.      London  :  John  Murray,  Albemarle  Street,  1871. 

The  Philosophy  of  Handwriting.  By  Don  Felix  de  Salamanca, 
with  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  autographs.  London  :  Chatto  & 
Windus.     (Dedication,  October,  1879.) 

According  to  Crocker.  The  progress  of  penmanship  from  the 
earliest  times,  with  upward  of  twenty  illustrative  examples  from 
Penna  Volans,  and  other  works  on  the  subject.  By  W.  Anderson 
Smith.  London  :  Alexander  Gardner  &  Paisley,  12  Paternoster 
Row,  1887. 

A  Text-Book  of  Paper-Making.  By  C.  T.  Cross  and  E.  J.  Bevan. 
E.  &  F.   N.    Spon,    125   Strand,   London,   and   35    Murray    Street, 

New  York,  1888. 

Die  Fabrikation  der  Siegel-  und  Flaschenlacke,  etc!,  Louis  Edgar 
Andes,  Wien,  Pesth,  Leipzig.     A.  Hartlebens,  Verlag,  1885. 

A  Book  of  Recollections.  By  John  Cordy  Jeaffreson,  author  of 
"A  Book  about  Lawyers,"  "A  Book  about  Doctors,"  "  A  Book 
about  the  Clergy,"  etc.,  in  two  volumes.  London:  Hurst  & 
Blackett,  limited,  13  Great  Marlborough  Street,  London,  1894. 

Die  Eisengallustinten.  Grundlagen  zu  ihrer  Beurtheilung.  Im 
Auftrage  der  Firma  Aug.  Leonhardi  zu  Dresden,  chemische  Fabri- 
ken  fiir  Tinten,  bearbeitet  von  deren  Chemikern  Osw.  Schluttig 
und  Dr.  G.  L.  Neumann.  Mitt  2  Holzschnitten,  einer  schwarzen 
und  zwei  farbigen  Tafeln.     Dresden  :  V.  Zahn  und  Jaensch,  1890. 

A  Manual  of  Handwriting.  How  to  give  collective  lessons  in 
handwriting  ;  including  an  adaptation  of  the  German  method  of 
time  writing  to  the  English  characters.     By  F.  Betteridge,  head- 


APPENDIX.  251 

master  of  the  Feversham  Street  Higher  Board  School,  Bradford, 
London  :  Griffith,  Farran,  Okeden  &  Welsh,  West  corner  of  St. 
Paul's  churchyard,  1887. 

Pharmaceutische  Central- Halle.  Neue  Folge,  No.  13,  p.  225, 
1892. 

Workshop  Receipts.  (Second  Series.)  By  Robert  Haldane. 
London  :  E.  &  F.  N.  Spon,  16  Charing  Cross  ;  New  York,  35 
Murray  Street,  1883. 

Journal  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry,  October  31,  1892. 

Finger-Prints.  By  Francis  Galton,  F.R.S.,  etc.  London  :  Mac- 
millan  &  Co.,  and  New  York,  1892. 

Decipherment  of  Blurred  Finger-Prints.  By  Francis  Galton, 
F.R.S.,  etc.     London  :  Macmillan  &  Co.,  and  New  York,  1893. 

lUustrirtes  Lexikon  der  Verfalschungen  und  Verunreinigungen 
der  Nahrungs-  und  Genussmittel,  der  Kolonialwaaren  und  Manu- 
fakte,  der  Droguen,  Chemikalien,  und  Farbwaren,  Gewerblichen 
und  Landwirtschaftlichen  Produkte,  Dokumente  und  Wertzeichen 
mit  Berucksichtigung  des  Gesetzes  von  14  Mai,  1879,  betr.  den 
Verkehr  mit  Nahrungsmitteln,  Genussmitteln  und  Gebrauchsgegen- 
standen  sowie  alter  Verordnungen  und  Vereinbarungen.  Unter 
Mitwirkung  von  Fachgelehrten  und  Sachverstandigen.  Herausge- 
geben  von  Dr.  Otto  Dammer  mit  5  Farbendrucktafeln  und  734  in 
den  Text  gedruckten  Abbildungen.  Leipzig :  Verlagsbuchhand- 
lung,  von  J.  J.  Weber,  1887.     Under  the  headings  : 

"  Handschriften.  ■"      Sittl,  SchriftverstLlndiger  in  Munchen. 

"Papier."  Prof.  Hoyer  an  der  technischen  Hochschule  in 
Munchen. 

"Tinte."     Dr.  Prior,  Chemiker,  Niirnberg. 

Hagers  Untersuchungen.  Ein  Handbuch  der  Untersuchung, 
Priifung,  und  Wertbestimmung  alter  Handelswaaren,  Natur-  und 
Kunsterzeugnisse,  Gifte,  Lebensmittel,  Geheimmittel,  etc.  Zweite 
umgearbeitete  Auflage.     Herausgegeben  von  Dr.  A.  Hager  u.  Dr. 


252  APPENDIX. 

E.  Holdermann.     (Zweiter  Band.)    Mit  zahlreichen  Holzschnitten. 
Leipzig  :  Ernst  Giinthus  Verlag,  1888. 

A.  Chevallier.  Dictionnaire  des  Alterations  et  Falsifications  des 
Substances  alimentaires,  medicamenteuses  et  commerciales.  Avec  . 
r  indication  des  moyens  de  les  reconnaitre.  Par  Er.  Baudrimont, 
Docteur  es-sciences,  Professeur  a  I'Ecole  Superieure  de  Paris;  Di- 
recteur  de  la  Pharmacie  Centrale  des  Hopitaux  Civils  ;  Membra  de 
rAcademie  de  Medecine.  Sixieme  edition.  Revue,  corrigee  et 
considerablement  augmentee  avec  310  figures  intercalees  dans  le 
texte  et  4  planches  en  chromolithographie.  Paris  :  Asselin  et  Cie., 
Libraires  de  la  Faculte  de  Medecine,  Place  de  I'Ecole  de  Medecine, 
1882. 

Industrial  Organic  Chemistry.  By  Samuel  P.  Sad  tier,  Ph.D. 
Adapted  for  the  use  of  manufacturers,  chemists,  and  all  interested 
in  the  utilization  of  organic  materials  in  the  Industrial  Arts.  Phil- 
adelphia :  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company.     Third  edition,  1900. 

Die  Handschrift.  Blatter  fiir  Wissenschaftliche  Schriftkunde 
und  Graphologie.  Unter  Mitwirkung  von  Sanitatsrath  Dr.  A.  Er- 
lenmeyer  und  Prof.  Dr.  Preyer,  herausgegeben  -von  W.  Langen- 
bruch  gerichtlich  vereideten  Schriftsachverstandigen.  Hamburg 
und  Leipzig.  Verlag  von  Leopold  Voss.  (Nine  numbers  of  this 
periodical  appeared  from  April,  1895,  to  January,  1896,  after  which 
it  ceased  to  exist. — P.  F.) 

Zur  Psychologie  des  Schreibens,  mit  besonderer  Riicksicht  auf 
individueUe  Verschiedenheiten  der  Handschriften.  VonW.  Preyer. 
Mit  mehr  als  200  Schriftproben  im  Text  nebst  8  diagrammen  und 
9  Tafeln.  Hamburg  und  Leipzig.  Verlag  von  Leopold  Voss, 
1895. 

Disputed  Handwriting  and  the  determination  of  genuine  from 
forged  signatures.  The  character  and  composition  of  inks  and 
their  determination  by  chemical  tests,  etc.  W.  E.  Hagan.  Banks 
&  Brothers,  New  York  and  Albany,  1894. 


APPENDIX.  253 

Ames  on  Forgery  :  its  detection  and  illustration,  etc.  By  Daniel 
T.  Ames,  San  Francisco.  New  York  :  Ames-Rollinson  Co.,  1900. 
La  Comparaison  des  ecritures  et  1' identification  graphique. 
Adolphe  Bertillon.  Revue  Scientifique,  December  18,  1897,  and 
January  1,  1898,  containing  as  the  French  bibliography  on  hand- 
writing, and  especially  forgery,  the  following  : 

Avis    pour    juger    des    inscriptions    en    faux.        Francois 
Demelle.     Paris,  1609. 

Traite  des  inscriptions  en  faux.     Raveneau,  Paris,  1656. 
Sur  la  methode  vicieuse  des  expertises  en  ecriture.     L'abbe 
Michon,  fondateur  de  la  graphologie.     Paris,  1880. 

L' ecriture  sous  le  point  de  vue  physiologique.     Vogt.  Revue 
Sclent.,  26  Juin,  1880. 

Le  mecanisme  de  Tecriture.     Javal,  id,  21  Mai,  1881. 
Mentionnons  enfin  le  seul  ouvrage  scientifique  sur  la  niatiere. 
Examination  of  Documents,  by  Frazer.      Etats-Unis,  1894. 
Le  Faux  devant  THistoire,  devant  la  Science,  et  devant  la  Loi. 
Gustave  Itasse,  ingenieur-chimiste.     Paris  :  Ch.  Delagrave,  1898. 

Des  Faux  en  ecriture  et  de  1' ecriture.  Methode  scientifique  nou- 
velle  d' analyse  et  d'examen,  par  Persifor  Frazer,  traduit  par  M.  L. 
Vossion  et  Mme,  H.  Bouet.  Paris:  Guillaumin  et  Cie.,  1899 
(deuxieme  edition). 

Mary  Reynolds  :  a  Case  of  Double  Consciousness.  By  S.  Weir 
Mitchell,  M.D.  (With  a  letter  on  the  handwritings  peculiar  to 
each  of  the  two  states  by  Dr.  Persifor  Frazer).  Transactions  of 
the  College  of  Physicians  of  Philadelphia,  April  4,  1888. 

The  Handwriting  of  the  Insane.  By  Henry  Hazlehurst,  Esq. 
(Read  before  the  Medical  Jurisprudence  Society  of  Philadelphia, 
March  8,  1887.) 


INDEX. 


A,  Appendix.  Dr.  Hallett's  math- 
ematical demonstration  of  abso- 
lute color  value,  225 

Absorption  spectra,  identification 
of  inks  by,  230 

Act  relating  to  handwriting  ex- 
perts in  Pennsylvania,  247 

Additions  and  interlineations,  183 

Agalite,  kaolin,  clay  for  paper 
loading,  42 

Alcohol,  absolute,  197 
as  reagent,  207,  208 
in  Baudrimont's  method,  218 

Alkaline  aurine  similar  to  eosine, 
232 

Alterations  of  original  import, 
178 

Ammonia,  aqua,  197 

Ammonium  hydrate,  constitution, 
201,  202 

Analysis  (complete)  of  inks  not 
possible,  194 

Andes,  Louis  Edgar.  Die  Fabri- 
kation  der  Siegel-  und  Flaschen- 
lacke,  79 

Angle,  value  of  determination,  31 

Angles,  of  longer  letters,  138 

only  as  a  means  of  judging, 
150 

Appendix,  225 

Approximate  age  of  writing,  209 

Artificial  sizing  in  forgery,  176 

Attitude,  mental,  towards  docu- 
ment investigated,  53 


Aurine,  eosine,  carmine,  231 

in   dilute    alkali,    absorption 
spectrum  of,  233 
Averages  and  ratios,  applicable  to 
handwriting,  133 
authentic  examples  must 

be  sufficient,  133,  134 
method  of,  132 
numerical,  explained,  133 

B,  Appendix.     Photomicrograph 
apparatus  described,  229 

Bad   writing  of  constant  writers 

most  illegible,  33 
Bank  teller  expertism,  20 
Baudrimont's  method,  216 
Bertillon's  system  of  identifying 

criminals,  80 
Bibliography  of  handwriting,  250 
Bibliotics,  definition,  subdivision, 
15 
introduction  of  experimental 

methods,  132 
not  necessarih*  concerned  with 
forgery,  16,  19 
Brewster,  Judge  F.  Carroll,  126 

C,  Appendix.    Absorption  spectra 
of  inks,  230 

Camera  lucida,  and  color  scale  to 
measure  color  of  inks, 
86 
tracings  of  ink-line  mar- 
gins, 101 
obscura,  for  color  tests,  96 


256 


INDEX. 


Camera  of   author    for    viewing 

by  transmitted  light,  54 
Carmine  in  ammonium  hydrate, 

absorption  spectrum  of,  233 
Carre,    method    by    hydrochloric 
acid  to  determine  age,  214 
on  approximate  age  of  writ- 
ing, 209 
Caution,  necessity  of,  in  reaching 

conclusions,  23 
Chabot,  Charles,  18,  19 

report  on  Junius  letters, 
131 
Characteristics   in   signature   and 

text,  118 
Charles     Darwin     on     evolution, 

142 
Chemical  examination.  Part  IV., 
186 
tests  for  inks,  Table  Y.,  223 
in  disfavor  with  courts, 
195 
Chemiker  Zeitung,  incombustible 

writing,  236 
Chevallier  and  Lassaigne,  45 

method  of  restoring  writ- 
ing, 178 
Chlorinated  lime,  197    • 
as  reagent,  207 
Citric  acid,  197 

as  reagent,  205 
Clarke,  J.  M.,  determines  funda- 
mentum    of   species    by    com- 
posite photography,  116 
Color,    Brewster,   Young,    Helm- 

holtz.  Maxwell,  94 
Color    value    of   inks,    absolute, 

equations  of,  229 
Colored    prisms,    absolute     color 
value,  93 
appearance   when  maxi- 
mum is  passed,  95 


Colored  prisms,  comparative  tests 
by,  91 
to     be     rapidly 
made,  93 
description  and  measure- 
ments of,  90 
determinations   by,    like 
qualitative       chemical 
tests,  89 
for    diiferentiating    ink 

lines,  88 
Hallett's    demonstration 
of  their  use  to  de- 
termine    absolute 
color    absorption, 
95 
discussion  of,  225 
illustrations  of,  89 
important  points  to  ob- 
serve, 95 
maximum  darkening   of 
line  compared  to  field, 
94 
means  of  determining 
maximum    darkening, 
94 
method  of  employment, 

90,  91 
qualitative  use  of,  93,  94 
Colors  of  prisms  arbitrary,  94 
'Composite    photograph,    use    of, 
128 
photographs,    advantages   of, 
122 
methods  of  making,  119 
of  single  words  and  let- 
ters, 121 
photography,  109 

advantage     of     employ- 
ment, 110 
application  of,  to  hand- 
writing, 110 


INDEX. 


257 


Composite  photography,  applica- 
tion    to     determining 
fundamentum  of  vari- 
ous species,  IIG 
explanation  of  procedure, 

111,  112 
the  difierent  kinds  of  re- 
sults obtained,  112 
signatures,   what  they  show, 

130 
writing,  distribution  of  vari- 
ations in,  115 
Compositing,    single    words    and 

letters,  121 
Concentration     destroys     fluores- 
cence in  inks,  231 
Constitution    of    principal    inks, 

193 
Contemplation,    an    hour    of,    to 

precede  work,  57 
Coulier's    method    for    restoring 

writing,   177 
Cross  and  Bevan.     Text-book  of 
paper  making,  42 

D,  Appendix.    Photographic  test- 
ing of  inks,  234 
Dandy  roll  in  paper  making,  45 
Danish  ink  standards,  189 
Dark    room    for    monochromatic 

light  tests,  96 
Davenport,  Dr.  Bennett  F.,  191 
David's  brilliant  carmine  absorp- 
tion spectrum,  233 
Definitions  of  expert,  and  expert 

testimony,  238 
Description     of    experiments     in 
guided  hands,  160 
of  the  making  of  certain  joint 
signatures,  165 
Deviations  in  ink  lines,  minutest, 
disregarded,  99,  101 


Deviations,  involuntary,  from  in- 
tended lines,  97 
through  fluctuation  of  nerve 

force,  98 
vertically  and  laterally  in  ink 
lines,  98 
Dickson,  Samuel,  Esq.    Views  on 

definitions  of  expert,  etc.,  241 
Diflerences    in    ink-line    margins 
comparable  to  mineral  fracture, 
102 
Direct    sunlight    for  transmitted 

light,  96 
Discussion   of  expert    testimony, 
237 
of  tables  of  guided  writing, 
156,   157 
Document,  care  of,  50 

general  style  of,  as  a  whole,  55 
under  examination,  abuse  of, 
51 
Doremus,  Dr.  Charles  A.  Absorp- 
tion spectra  of  inks,  230 

E,     Appendix.       Workshop    re- 
ceipts, Haldane,  236    . 

Eft'ect  of  nature  of  document  on 
writing,  56 

Ellis,  Henry.    Patentee  of  aurine, 
232 

Employment  of  averages,  139 

Endlich,  Judge,  on  expert  testi- 
mony, 238 

Eosine  and  aurine,  231 

in    water,     absorption    spec- 
trum, 233 

Equations  for  absolute  color  value 
of  inks,  229 

Erasure,  writing  over,  181 

Erasures  in  forgeries,  173 

Everything  observed  can  be  meas- 
ured, provided ,  132 


i; 


258 


INDEX. 


Evidence  of  action  of  two  hands 

in  joint  signature,  162 
Evidences  of  tampering,  175 
Evolution  of  ideal  pattern,  32 
Examination  must  separate  essen- 
tials from  accidentals,  132 
Example  of  forgery  by  decalque 

and  photography,  174,  175 
Experiments  to  he  tried  first  on 
paper  only,  214 
with  joint  signatures,  167 

E,  Appendix.     Expert  testimony, 

237 
Feebleness,  example  of,  69 

illiteracy,  and  fraud,  tremors 

of,  67 
peculiarities  of  tremors  in,  68 
Feigned   unskilfulness    easily  de- 
tected, 34 
Fibres    of    paper    appear    where 

touched  by  ink,  82 
Fifteen  per  cent,  diiference  from 

normal,  suspicious,  139 
Finding  point  of  maximum  dark- 

ening,-92 
Fireproof  ink,  236 
Folding   papers   under    examina- 
tion, 51 
Forgeries  by  erasure  and  by  addi- 
tion, 173 
definition  of,  171 
extensive  in  literature,  172 
method  of  executing,  171 
Formulas  for  absolute  absorptive 

power  of  inks,  225 
Forty-five  to  seventy  degrees  slope 

in  usual  writing,  139 
Francis,  Sir  Philip,  18 
Fraud,  illiteracy,  and  feebleness, 
tremors  of,  67,  72 
peculiarities  of  tremors  in,  71 


Fraud,  tremor  of,  in  forged  Whita- 
ker  signature,  126 

Frayed  ends  of  tape,  77 

Frazer,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Per- 
sifor,  Washington's  letter  to, 
125 

Furrows  of  pen-nibs,  48 

Futility  of  sight  opinions  of  hand- 
writing, 22 

G,  Appendix.     Handwriting  evi- 
dence in  Pennsylvania,  245 
Galton,  Francis,  letter  of,  116 

method  of  compositing, 

121 
on  finger-prints,  80 
Garrett,  Enos  Y.,  forged  and  com- 
posite signature  of,  129 
Giles,  Miss,  18 
Gold  terchloride,  197 

as  reagent,  206 
Gordon,  George  P. ,  will  of,  tested, 

231 
Grammaphenyj  definition  of,  15 

Part  II., '97 
Graphic  and  arithmetical  averages 
compared,  143 
average  or  composite  photog- 
raphy, 109 
Guided  hands,  character  of  writing 
by,  theory,  152 
description  of  experi- 

ments,  160,  161 
manner  of  guiding,  153 
summary    and    conclu- 
sions, 161,  162 
writing,  analysis  of,  154 
Gypsum,   plaster  of  Paris,   pearl 
hardening  paper,  42 

H,  Appendix.  Committee  of 
American  Philosophical  Society 


INDEX. 


259 


on  investigation  of  documents, 
248 
Habit  of   writing  ; — employment 
of  a  certain  pivot  and  radius,  29 
Habits,  unconscious,  the  most  im- 
portant for  study,  30 
Hagan's  adaptation  of  microscope 

to  large  papers,  52 
Hager   and  Holdermann    magni- 
fiers, 58 
on  inks,  193 
Hager's  method,  210 
Hallett,  Dr.  George  H.      Mathe- 
matical discussion  of  color  educ- 
tion of  Frazer's  Colored  prisms, 
225 
Handwriting   once   formed,    very 
constant,  115 
evidence,  comments  on  Judge 
Woodward's  opinion,  246 
Hawley,  George  W.,  forged,  and 

composite  signature  of,  129 
Heating  with  reagents,  213 
Henrj-,    William,    Washington's 

letter  to,  125 
Herschel,  Sir  William,  on  finger- 
prints, 80 
Hesitation  and  tremor,  kinds  of, 
67 
where  shown  of  importance, 
76 
Hildebert,  Archbishop  of  Tours, 

on  parchments,  46 
Hydrochloric  acid,  197 

constitution  and   reac- 
tions, 200 
Holdermann  and  Hager,  on  inks, 
193 

I,  Appendix.  Wingate's  method 
of  photographing  oblique 
crosses,  249 


Ideal  writing,  114 
Identification  of  inks  by  spectra, 

230 
Idiomatic  phrases  used  for  char- 
acter of  handwriting,  117 
Illiteracy,  fraud,  and  feebleness, 
tremors  of,  67 
peculiarity  of  tremor  of,  illus- 
tration, 70 
Illumination      for      photomicro- 
graphs, 107 
Illustrations  of  widening  of  ink 

lines,  62 
Important  characteristics  of  col- 
ored prisms,  94 
Ink  for  fireproof  writings,  236 
increased  and  decreased  flow 

of,  99 
lines,  camera  lucida  tracings 
of,  described,  103 
color  of,  by  low   power 

magnifiers,  82 
colored  prisms  for  diflPer- 

entiating,  88 
constituent  parts,  81 
determination  of  color  by 

camera  lucida,  86 
dichroism  in,  83 
difficulty  of  judging  of 

color,  85 
examination  by  reflected 
and  transmitted  light, 
87 
explanation  of  constancy 

of  features,  105 
explanation  of  Plate  III., 

81 
general  appearance  under 

microscope,  81 
iridescence  of,  84 
metallic  lustre  of  aniline, 
83 


260 


INDEX. 


Ink  lines,  microscopical  examina- 
tion of,  97 
oblique  illumination,  87 
of  Professor  Witmer,  107 
old,     yellowish     tinge 

around,  83 
on  glass  viewed  through 
microscope      transpar- 
ent, 60 
photographs  of,  available 

for  study,  104 
preponderance   of  serra- 
tions    determined    for 
all  parts  viewed,  105 
Sharples's    method      by 

photographing,  88 
tests  by  light  effects,  84 
Inks,    about  twenty  in  common 
use,  38 
aniline   constituent  is   easily 

noted,  85 
blue  added  to  render  visible, 

38,  39 
caution  in  supposing  tamper- 
ing with,  40 
changes  which  take  place  in 

inkstand,  83 
color,  lustre,  and  shade,  judg- 
ment of,  39 
constitution  of  principal,  193 
darkening  of  iron  nutgall,  38 
differences  of,  38 
discrimination    between,    by 

visual  tests,  81 
gums  in,  effect  of,  86 
quantitative   analysis   of,    on 
documents  impossible,  194 
testing,  194 
treatise  on,  by  Schluttig  and 

Neumann,  186 
with  gum  do  not  blot  or  run, 
40 


Instance  of  an  innocent  interline- 
ation, 183 
Interlineations  and  additions,  183 
Investigation  of  joint  signatures, 
164 
should  not  be  hampered  by 
supposed  motives,  185 
Involuntary   wavering    in    lines, 

97 
Iodine  crystals,  207 

properties  of,  as  reagent,  197 
vapor.     Chevallier  and  Las- 
saigne,  220-222 
to  restore  writing,  213 
Iron  test  in  Whitaker  will  devised 

by  author,  127,  204 
Ivory,  burnt,  in  restoring  obliter- 
ated writings,  216 

J,    Appendix.       Bibliography  of 

subject,  250 
Joint  signature,  investigation  of, 
163 
signatures,  experiments  with, 
167 
photo-engravings  of,  169 
Johnson,  John  G.    Views  on  defi- 
nitions of  expert,  241 
Junius,  Chabot's  report  on  hand- 
writing of,  131 
letters  of,  16,  18 

Kaolin,    agalite,    clay   for    paper 

loading,  42 
Kinds  of  forgeries,  171 
Knowledge  of  the  meaning  not 

necessary  to  judgment,  25 

Labored  writing,  67 
Lassaigne  and  Chevallier's  method 
of  restoring  writing,  178 


INDEX. 


261 


Lateral  motions  of  pen,  98 

least  frequent  in 
short,  str  ong 
strokes,  99 

Lenox,  David,  Washington's  let- 
ter to,  126 

Lens  of  low  power,  employment 
of,  to  detect  sequence  in  crossed 
lines,  64 

Leptodesma^  variations  compos- 
ited, 116 

Letters  of  Junius  taken  as  a  prob- 
lem, 140 

Light,  monochromatic,  95 

transmitted,  scrutiny  hy,  54 

Lime,  chlorinated,  as  reagent,  207 

Linear  designs  can  be  composited, 
120 

Line  drawn  by  human  hand  a 
fossil,  113 

Litmus  paper,  uses  of,  212 

Lords  Eldon  and  Kenyon  on  ex- 
pertism  in  common  law,  25 

Low  microscope  objective  with 
sleeve,  57 

Machine-drawn  ink  line,  106J 
photomicrograph  and  camera 
lucida     tracing    described, 
107 
Machine-made  papers  and  stamped 

papers  with  iodine,  222 
Magnifier,  low  power,  suflBcient,  58 

the  choice  of,  57 
Magnifiers,    use  of   high   power, 

restricted,  58 
Manner     in    wh4ch     support    is 
changed  important,  30 
of  testing,  198 
of  writing,  25 
Mason,    Thomson,  "Washington's 
letter  to,  126 


Massachusetts,    requirements    for 

inks,  191 
Maximum  darkening   in   colored 

prisms,  92 
]Mcasurements,    letters   not  easily 
used  for,  136 
method   of  preparing   tables 

for,  136 
selection  of  points  for,  134 
Method  of  examining   a  certain 
joint  signature,  165 
of   tabulating  measurements 
and  averages,  187 
Methods     by    superficial     resem- 
blance, and  by  measurements, 
contrasted,  142 
Microscope,    reversal   of  position 

in,  103 
Microscopical  examination  of  ink 

lines,  97 
Mistakes  made  by  forgers,  185 
Mitchell,  Dr.  S.  Weir,  16 
Mode  of  procedure,  selection  of, 

56 
Monochromatic  light,  method  of 
employing,  96 
use  of,  in  differentiating 
inks,  95 
"More"  as  written  by  Sir  Philip 

Francis  and  Junius,  145,  146 
Morris,  Thomas  J.,  composite  sig- 
nature of  (Plate  XIII.),  129 
Motives  to  a  limited  extent  con- 
sidered, 185 
Moving   the  hand,  difference  of 

writers,  29 
Muscular  structure  of  writers  de- 
termines deviations,  119 

Nerve  force,  fluctuations  of,  98 

variations  of,  98 
Netherclift,  Frederick  jGeorge,  18 


262 


INDEX. 


Neumann  and  Scliluttig,  treatise 

on  inks,  186 
Nits,   traces   of,    may  determine 

sequence  in  crossed  lines,  59 
Nitric  acid,  197 

as  reagent,  205 
Normal  writing  begins  after  first 

letter,  138 
Nutgall  inks,  superiority  of,  188 

Oblique  vision,  employment  of, 
for  detecting  sequence  in  crossed 
lines,  63 

Operation  by  Baudrimont  method, 
217 

Oxalic  acid,  197 

composition  of,  200 

Paper,  beating,  loading,  42 

calendering,  43 

comparison  of,  in  various 
sheets  of  a  document,  44 

concealment  of  spots  on,  45 

correcting  color,  43 

erasures  on,  "teezed-up" 
fibres,  44 

hand-made,  43 

making,  text-book,  Cross  and 
Bevan,  42 

materials  of  which  made,  cot- 
ton, linen,  esparto,  wood 
pulp,  42 

pearl  hardening,  42 

sizing,  43 

water-marks  in,  44 
Parchment,  42 

description  of,  and  manufac- 
ture of,  in  Koman  times, 
46 

erasures  in,  47 

palimpsests,  47 

recovery  of  former  writing,  47 


Parchment,     similarity    of    sides 

raises  doubt  of  age,  47 
Particles  in  ink,  difference  in  num- 
ber and  size,  60 
Part  I. ,  Physical  considerations,  25 
Part  II.,  Grammapheny,  97 
Part  III.,  Plassopheny,  171 
Part  IV.,  Chemical  examination, 

186 
Parts  of  one  letter  suf&cient  to 

identify,  151 
Peignot  on  parchments,  46 
Pencil  mark,  cause  of  appearance 
of  detached  dots,  106 
evidence    of   change    in 
vertical    pressure    not 
visible,  106 
serrations,  106 
under  microscope,  107 
Pen  furrows,  36 

Mackinnon,  37 
metal,  36 
stylograph,  36 

appearance  of  marks 
by,  37 
Penman,    skilled,    avoids   certain 

deviations,  97 
Pens,  past  and  present,  35 

stylograph   and   Mackinnon, 
described,  49 
Permanency  of  inks,  188 
Photo-engravings  of  joint  signa- 
tures, 169 
Photographing  document  impor- 
tant, 195 
Photographs  record  the  minutest 

serrations,  104 
Photomicrographing       apparatus 

described,  229 
Photomicrographs  and  camera  lu- 
oida  tracings  of  ink  lines.  103, 
107 


INDEX. 


263 


Pitfalls  awaiting  forgers,  128 
Plassopheny,  15 
definition,  17 
Part  III.,  171 
Plaster  of  Paris,  pearl  hardening 

paper,  42 
Plate    illustrating   guided    hands 

described,  157 
Points,     best,    for     measurement 
often  not  beginning  or  end, 
138 
not  easily  obtained  in   some 
letters,  136 
Portable 'testing  case,  198 
Position   of    pen  influences   pro- 
duction of  serrations,  101 
Positions  of  the  arm  in  writing, 

25 
Possibility  of  detecting  character- 
istics in  the  simplest  pen  marks, 
163 
Potassium  ferrocyanide,  197 
as  reagent,  202,  203 
instance     of     its     value, 

204 
method  of  using,  203 
reason  for  great  care,  203 
sulphocjanate,  197 
as  reagent,  204 
Preliminary    (chemical)    investi- 
gation, 199 
Preponderance  of  serrations,  100 
Principle  involved    in    measure- 
ment, average  and  ratio,  145 
Procedure  in  finding  writing  in 

sympathetic  inks,  215,  216 
Professor  "Witmer's  letter  on  ser- 
rations, 108 
Proportion  of  numbers  of  serra- 
tions constant,  102 
Punctured    cheque,  ink   line  on, 
Plate  III.,  Figs.  1  and  2,  78 


Quantitative  analysis  of  inks  on 
documents  impossible,  194 
methods,  Chapter  XII.,  180 

Raising  cheques,  180 
Ratios  and  averages,   method  of, 
132 
explanation    of    application, 
140 
Reagents  desirable,  197 
in  the  cold,  212 
used  by  forgers,  210 
Reformations  in  writing  at  impor- 
tant points  suspicious,  179 
Relations  between  parts  of  great- 
est importance,  144 
Requirements   for   inks,    Danish, 
189,  190 
German,  186-188 
Massachusetts,  191,  192 
Restoration  of  original  marks,  177 
Retouching,  74 
Reynolds,  Mary,  the  mental  states 

of,  17 
Rise   and    fall    above    base   line, 

31 
Roasting  paper  to  restore  writing, 
178 

Safety  paper,  236 

for  important  documents 
(note),  214 
Safranine,  absorption  spectrum  of, 

233 
Sandarach  powder,  211 
Schluttig  and  Neumann,  treatise 

on  inks,  186 
Scrutiny  of  document  to  be  studied, 

53 
Sealing  wax,  78 

Andes,  Louis  Edgar,  work 
on,  79 


264 


INDEX. 


Sealing  wax,  remelting,  signs  of, 
78 
skin-marks  on,  79,  80 
Selection  of  points  for  measure- 
ments, 137 
Sequence  of  crossed  lines   deter- 
mined by  oblique  vi- 
sion, 63 
explanation    of   illustra- 
tions, 65,  66 
in  crossed  lines,  important,  58 
Serrations  caused  by  the  minutest 
lateral  movements  of  pen, 
99 
causes   of,    not  fully   under- 
stood, 100 
changes  of 'ink   and  pen  do 
not  destroy  their  constancy 
of  preponderance,  102,  104 
diflTerences  from  hand-drawn, 

106^ 
extent  of  knowledge  through 

experiment,  100 
infrequency  of,  in  some  writ- 
ings not  prejudicial  to  value 
as  a  test,  99 
in  margins  of  ink  lines,  prob- 
able cause  of,  100,  104 
noticeable  in  lead-pencil,  106 
of  lead-pencil  marks,  101 
of  machine-drawn  lines,  106^ 
of  medium  size  preferable  for 
determining     preponder- 
ance, 100 
of  pen  and  pencil  marks  de- 
scribed, 106,  107 
origin  of,  99 
pencil  mark,  106 
photographs  record  them,  104 
possibility  of  being  traced  to 

an  individual,  102 
preponderance  of,  100 


Serrations,  probability  that  some 

causes  of,  are  unknown,  101 

probable  rapidity  in  making, 

105 
relation  to  position  of  pen,  101 
resemblances     define     class 

rather  than  a  person,  102 
the  smallest  not  adapted   to 

determination,  101 
value  of,  for  rapid  determina- 
tion (note),  100 
Sharpies,  S.   P.     Method  of  dis- 
criminating   betw;een  inks 
by  photography  (note),  88 
photographic  testing  of  inks, 
234 
Sight  determination  of  minerals 

and  handwriting,  21 
Signatures,    few    show     all    the 
characteristic  features,  131 
peculiarities  of,  33 
Silver    nitrate    in    Baudrimont's 

method,  219 
Sir   Philip   Francis   and  Junius, 

writing  of,  analyzed,  147 
Sittl,  all  parts  of  a  document  must 
agree,  55 
cites  water-mark  incident,  54 
on  detection  of  imitations  of 
old  parchment,  47 
Sizing  of  writing-paper,  211 

paper  making,  43 
Sodium  flame  for  monochromatic 
hght  tests,  96 
hydrate,  197 

as  reagent,  206 
hyposulphite,  197 

(ammoniacal)  as  reagent, 
206 
Sources  of  Washington  signatures 

used,  125 
Spectra,  absorption,  of  inks,  233 


INDEX. 


265 


Stages  of  mental  attitude  in  inves- 
tigations, 22,  23 
Staining  of  straggling  fibres,  62 
Standard    illumination   for  color 
prism  tests,  92,  93 
of  inks,  Danish,  189,  190 
German,  186-188 
Massachusetts,  191,  192 
Straight  line  preserved  by  increas- 
ing action  of  fingers,  26 
Subjects  suitable   for  composites, 

116 
Sulphuric  acid,  197 

as  reagent,  205 
Sulphurous  acid,  197 
Summary  and  conclusions   as   to 
guided  hands,  161,  162 
of     agreements      between 
"more"    by    Francis    and 
Junius,  147 
of  Judge  Woodward's  opin- 
ion, 245 
of  notes  of  experiment  with 
joint  signatures,  168 
Superposition    in  crossed   lines 
chemically  determined,  208,  209 
Swedish   filter-paper    in    Baudri- 

mont's  method,  218 
Symbolism  and  symmetry,  32 
Sympathetic    inks,    detection    of 
writing  in,  215 

Table  containing  summary  of  data 
on  guided  hands,  159 

of  ratios  of  parts  of  one  let- 
ter, 151 

of  the  word  "more"  by  Fran- 
cis and  Junius,  146 

of  the  word  "  Woodfall"  by 
Francis  and  Junius,  149 

v.,  of  chemical  tests,  origin 
of,  222,  228 


Tables  of  analysis  of  guided  writ^ 

ing,  155,  158,  159 
Tabulating    measurements     and 

averages,  137 
Tapes  and  sealing-wax,  76 
illustrations  of,  78 
kinds  of,  77 

uniformity  of  fibre,  77,  78 
use  and  description  of,  76,  77 
Tartaric  acid,  197 

as  reagent,  205 
Taylor,  Isaac,  forged  and  compos- 
ite signature  of,  129 
Taylor,     W.     Curtis,     composite 

photography  of,  121 
Testing  of  inks,  194 
Test-papers  in  Baudrimont's 

method,  218 

Tests  of  writing,  qualitative,  196 

The  People  vs.  Koland  B.  Moli- 

neux,  colored  prism  test  (note), 

93 

Three  kinds  of  deviations  of  ink 

hnes,  97 
Tilghman,  Eichard,  18 
Tin  dichloride,  197 

(acidified)     as     reagent, 
206 
Too  great  care  sometimes  sign  of 

fraud,  179 
Traces  of  flow  in  crossed  lines,  59 
Tracings  do  not  always  show  hesi- 
tation, 31 
remains  of,  54 
Transmitted  monochromatic  light, 

96 
Transparency  of  ink  lines,  60 
Tremor  of  fraud  in  forged  Whita- 

ker  signature,  126 
Tremors  cannot  be  at  once  referred 
to  their  causes,  127 
in  ink  lines,  97     , 


266 


INDEX. 


Tremors  of  a  practised  hand  visible 
only  when  magnified,  75 
rough  estimate  of  rapidity  of, 

105,  106 
the  obstacle  to  drawing  per- 
fect lines  in  all  writing,  73 
Truscott,  Charles,  method  of  com- 
positing, 121 
Twisleton,  Hon.  Edward,  18 

comments    on    Chabot's 
work,  141 

Ultramarine,  ases  of,  211 
Utilization  of  tables  of  measure- 
ments, 166 

Vanadium  inks,  191 

Variation  from  normal  which  is 

suspicious,  139 
Variations  not  evenly  distributed, 
115 
of  pen,  etc. ,  do  not  alter  pre- 
ponderance   of    serrations, 
102 
some  from  ideal  model  sup- 
port authenticity,  115 
Various    tests   in     Baudrimont's 

method,  219 
Vertical  pressure  on  pen,  fluctua- 
tions of,  98 

Warme's    method    for    restoring 

writing,  177 
"Washing  reagents,  211 

with   chemically  active  sub- 
stances, 176 
Washington,    Samuel,    letter    to, 

125 
Washington's  signature,  122 

composite  of,  by  Taylor, 
125 
by  Truscott,  126 


Washington's  signature,  descrip- 
tion of,  122,  123 
dots  and  flourishes  most 

variable,  124 
last     flourish     probably 
made  without  rest,  125 
lower  part  of  "g"  omit- 
ted (note),  123 
normal    writing    begins 
after  some  centimeters, 
123 
Water  as  a  means  of  determining 
substances  used  on  paper, 
217 
distilled,  197 
Water-mark,  instances  by  Sittl  of 

importance,  54 
What     constitutes     a    suspicious 

amount  of  variation,  139 
Whitaker,   Eobert,  composite  of 

signature  of,  126 
Widening  of  upper  at  junction  of 

ink  lines,  61 
Winsor    and     !N'ewton's     brown 

(note),  204 
Witmer,  Professor  Lightner,  let- 
ter of,  108 
"  Woodfall"  as  written  by  Fran- 
cis and  Junius,  148 
Woodward,  Chief  Justice  of  Penn- 
sylvania,    opinion    in 
Travis  vs.  Brown,  21 
summary  of,  245 

Writing  over  an  erasure,  181 

stroke  or  dash,  180 
Writing    thirty   and   sixty   years 
old,  214 

Young,  Helmholtz,  and  Maxwell, 
theory  of  colors  (note),  94 


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